Google spared from ad-business breakup, but judge orders changes to how it operates
A federal judge has ruled that Google will not be broken up despite being found guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly in the advertising technology market. Instead, the company must adjust its business practices to favor competitors, though specific remedies remain to be finalized.
Why it matters
This decision represents a significant outcome in the ongoing antitrust battle against Big Tech, favoring behavioral remedies over structural divestiture.
The Justice Department has spent years attempting to break up Google’s gargantuan advertising business across two separate antitrust lawsuits: one filed in 2020 focused on Google’s dominance in search, and a second filed in 2023 that specifically targeted Google’s ad-technology business. Both cases argued that the search giant’s grip on the digital ad economy represents an illegal monopoly.
Courts have largely sided with the government in both cases. In 2024, a court determined that Google’s search business, including its exceedingly lucrative search-ad operation, was an illegal monopoly, claiming that the tech giant had “exercised its monopoly power” to dominate the search industry and search ads. Last April, a second court case — this one focused specifically on Google’s ad-tech business — also came to the same conclusion.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in