Google Escapes Breakup Despite Monopoly Findings

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has sparked outrage by ruling that Google does not have to sell off its AdX marketplace, which extracts a 20% fee from online ad sales in real time. This decision comes despite her earlier ruling that Google's conduct 'substantially harmed' publishers and that the company had 'destroyed' key evidence.

The judge ordered Google to adopt most of the proposed behavioral remedies from the DOJ and a coalition of US states, but did not specify which proposals should be enacted. The full opinion on the case will be released later this month after both sides have reviewed it and suggested redactions for confidential information.

This is the second time in exactly a year that Google has dodged a breakup of its online empire despite a federal judge's ruling that it was illegally dominating a market. Last September, US District Judge Amit Mehta decided against the DOJ's request to force Google to sell off its Chrome web browser.