US judge rejects bid to break up Google's ad business

On September 2nd, a US federal judge named Leonie Brinkema denied a government request to force Google to divest a part of its digital advertising business, rejecting the idea of breaking up a core component of the tech giant's ad empire. Instead, Brinkema set out a series of rules governing how Google must operate in the ad market.

At the heart of the issue was Google's digital advertising exchange, AdX, where publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell ads through auctions that take place instantly when users load websites. The Department of Justice had argued that Google was unable to be trusted to manage the online advertising exchange after Brinkema found Google guilty of illegally suppressing competition.

This decision marks the second time in recent years that a federal judge has declined to dismantle a section of Google's business. Last year, another judge had refused to order the sale of the company's Chrome browser in a separate case regarding online search monopoly. This case is one of several instances where the Department of Justice has attempted to curb the dominance of major tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Meta.

While these efforts have had mixed results, some decisions have favored the government. Google's vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, expressed satisfaction with the court's rejection of the DOJ's proposal to split apart essential tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow. The judge issued her opinion under seal for 14 days, leaving the specifics of the Google's revised ad business operations undisclosed for now. She instructed the involved parties to submit a joint proposed final judgment within 30 days.