Google Spared Breakup in Digital Ads Decision
A federal judge in Virginia has ordered Google to retool its system for digital advertising, but spared the company from a breakup. The decision by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema marks the second time this year that Google has received a reprieve from a Justice Department proposal to dismantle its internet empire.
The ruling comes after a judge declared Google's search engine as an illegal monopoly in 2024, and the Justice Department pushed for a penalty that would have required Google to sell its Chrome web browser. However, this was rebuffed by another federal judge last September.
Critics of Big Tech condemned the ruling, with Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, saying 'It takes an Olympic level of mental gymnastics to find that Google is operating an illegal monopoly and then decide to do nothing about it.'