Google's Monopoly Shield: Judges Allow Dominant Tech Firm to Keep Its Grip

For the second time, federal judges have found Google liable for monopolization, but allowed the company's monopoly to remain intact. The ruling by Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the divestiture of AdX, the ad exchange part of Google's architecture, and the Justice Department's proposal that source code for publisher tools be made public.

Google will continue to run all sides of the advertising technology stack, including the 'sell side' where advertisers make bids, the 'buy side' where publishers offer inventory on their websites, and the ad exchange. This integration has enabled Google to extract billions of dollars from publishers and advertisers in a market it controls.

The cleanest way to stop a monopolist is to break up their monopoly, but the courts have disregarded such a breakup as an option. Judge Brinkema's ruling mirrors the remedy ordered by Judge Amit Mehta in a different case involving Google Search, where he also allowed deals between Google and Apple to continue.

Google argued that a breakup would be too difficult, and Judge Brinkema accepted 'behavioral remedies' instead. However, critics argue that these remedies may not have any real teeth, given the company's past behavior.