Google Spared Breakup as Judge Orders Changes to Digital Ads Business

A federal judge has ordered Google to retool its digital ads business but has spared it from a breakup. The decision was made by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia, marking the second time this year that Google has received a reprieve from a Justice Department proposal to dismantle its internet empire.

The company's corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., has a market value of $4.11 trillion. Critics of Big Tech have condemned the ruling, with Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, saying it 'takes an Olympic level of mental gymnastics' to find Google is operating an illegal monopoly and then do nothing about it.

The ad tech case dates back to the government's 2023 filing of an antitrust lawsuit that resulted in an illegal monopoly judgment. Justice Department lawyers warned Brinkema that if Google is allowed to hold on to all its ad technology, the company will still be able to find ways to 'manipulate computer algorithms' in ways too difficult to detect.