The US justice department had sought an order requiring Google to divest parts of its technology
Google must rework its digital advertising system in light of accusations that it had established an illegal monopoly, reported The Associated Press.
Virginia judge Leonie Brinkema issued the ruling on Wednesday September 2. The US justice department had been seeking an order for Google to divest parts of its technology.
The department’s lawyers said in court documents that permitting Google to maintain ownership of its ad technology would enable the tech giant to “manipulate computer algorithms that are the engine of its monopolies in ways too difficult to detect,” per a snippet published by AP News. Google countered that the government’s preferred outcome was excessively harsh given that Google's system distributed ads on which online publishers relied to fund digital services catering to millions.
This system took on 55 million requests per second and was technology that “absolutely has to keep working for consumers,” the tech giant said in a statement published by AP News.
Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, praised Brinkema’s ruling.
“We’re very pleased the court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow,” Mulholland said in a statement published by AP News.
Brinkema indicated in her initial decision that she had accepted the majority of the proposed remedies from both the justice department and Google. The full opinion has been sealed for 14 days to grant the parties an opportunity to suggest needed redactions.
However, the judgment was met with some backlash.
“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. With Big Tech continuing to suffocate new and innovative businesses from gaining traction, Judge Brinkema, like [Amit] Mehta before her, is sending the wrong message at the wrong time,” said Sacha Haworth, The Tech Oversight Project’s executive director, in a statement published by AP News.
In August 2024, Mehta determined that Google had monopolized the search engine market. The justice department had sought an order for Google to divest its web browser Chrome; however, Mehta ordered Google to share data with its rivals instead.
