Judge orders changes to Google's digital ads business but spares it from a breakup

The initial two-page decision by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia marks the second time in a year that Google has received a reprieve from a Justice Department proposal to dismantle its Internet empire. — Unsplash

A federal judge on Sept 2 ordered Google to retool the system powering its monopoly in digital advertising, sparing the company from a wrenching breakup sought by the US government.

The initial two-page decision by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia marks the second time in a year that Google has received a reprieve from a Justice Department proposal to dismantle its Internet empire. Meanwhile, what courts have described as the company's anti-competitive practices have enriched Google's corporate parent, Alphabet Inc, which has a market value of US$4.11 trillion (RM16.6 trillion).

The judge's full opinion, which includes the specific remedies, will remain under seal for 14 days to allow the parties to review it and propose any necessary redactions.

"We’re very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's vice president for regulatory affairs.

After a judge declared Google's ubiquitous search engine as an illegal monopoly in 2024, the Justice Department pushed for a penalty that would have required the company to sell its popular Chrome web browser. But it was rebuffed last September by another federal judge overseeing that case.

Now Brinkema has also rejected the government's argument that Google should be forced to sell parts of the technology underlying a Byzantine system that generates a significant portion of the company's nearly US$400bil (RM1.61 trillion) in annual ad sales.

Critics of Big Tech condemned the ruling.

"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," said Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project. "With Big Tech continuing to suffocate new and innovative businesses from gaining traction, Judge Brinkema, like (US District Judge Amit) Mehta before her, is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.”

Brinkema is adopting an approach that the Justice Department adamantly opposed last November when the judge heard closing arguments during the trial’s remedy phase. The ad tech case dates back to the government’s 2023 filing of an antitrust lawsuit that resulted last year in an illegal monopoly judgment.

Justice Department lawyers warned Brinkema in court documents that if Google is allowed to hold on to all its ad technology, the company will still be able to find ways to "manipulate computer algorithms that are the engine of its monopolies in ways too difficult to detect.”

In its counterarguments, Google contended would be unduly harsh to break up a complex network that distributes ads that online publishers depend upon to help finance digital services used by millions of consumers.

The technology underlying advertising exchange targeted in the case handles 55 million requests per second, according to estimates provided by Google in court filings. "This is technology that absolutely has to keep working for consumers,” Google had warned leading up to Brinkema’s ruling.

In her decision, Brinkema said she agreed to most of the remedies suggested by the two sides.

Even though the changes ostensibly will shake up the status quo in ways that could decrease Google’s revenue or at least slow its future growth, the ruling seems likely to be viewed by most investors as the equivalent of a speed bump for a company that has recently been turbocharged by AI technology.

That has been the prevailing perspective about the punishment handed down by US District Judge Amit Mehta in the search monopoly case. Since that decision came down in Washington DC, Alphabet’s stock price has surged 45% to create an additional US$1.3 trillion (RM5.25 trillion) in shareholder wealth. – AP

Lake Ontario now called Lake America on Google Maps for US users after Trump ordered name change

Hackers turned a Google Docs feature into a trap for security experts

How to measure straight-line distances and land areas in Google Maps

Thank you for your report!

The Internet is starting to card everyone. These startups are making millions from it

Jendela Phase 2 must deliver reliable Internet, not just more towers, says Sabah minister

Taiwan briefly slows its mobile Internet to text-only speed as part of defence drill

美国弗吉尼亚州地方法官莱昂妮·布林克玛最初发布的两页裁决，标志着谷歌一年内第二次暂缓执行司法部旨在瓦解其互联网帝国的提案。—— Unsplash

9 月 2 日，一位联邦法官下令谷歌对其数字广告垄断业务的系统进行改造，从而使该公司免于美国政府寻求的痛苦拆分。

美国弗吉尼亚州地方法官莱昂妮·布林克玛最初仅作了两页的裁决，这标志着谷歌一年内第二次暂缓执行司法部提出的拆分其互联网帝国的提案。与此同时，法院认定谷歌的反竞争行为却使其母公司Alphabet Inc.的市值飙升至4.11万亿美元（约合16.6万亿令吉）。

法官的完整意见（包括具体的补救措施）将保密 14 天，以便各方审查并提出任何必要的修改意见。

谷歌负责监管事务的副总裁李安妮·穆尔霍兰德表示：“我们非常高兴法院驳回了司法部提出的拆分帮助小企业接触新客户和发展的工具的提议。”

2024年，一位法官宣布谷歌无处不在的搜索引擎构成非法垄断后，司法部力推一项处罚措施，要求该公司出售其广受欢迎的Chrome浏览器。但去年9月，负责审理此案的另一位联邦法官驳回了司法部的请求。

现在，布林克玛还驳斥了政府的论点，即应该强迫谷歌出售其复杂系统的部分技术，该系统为该公司带来了近 4000 亿美元（1.61 万亿令吉）的年度广告销售额的很大一部分。

大型科技公司的批评者谴责了这一裁决。

“要发现谷歌存在非法垄断行为，却又决定不采取任何行动，这需要奥运级别的脑力劳动，”科技监督项目执行主任萨沙·霍沃思说道。“大型科技公司不断扼杀新兴创新企业的发展，布林克玛法官就像之前的梅塔法官一样，在错误的时间发出了错误的信息。”

布林克玛法官采取的策略与司法部去年11月在审判补救阶段听取结案陈词时所坚决反对的策略截然相反。这起广告技术案件可以追溯到政府于2023年提起的反垄断诉讼，该诉讼最终于去年导致法院判决该公司构成非法垄断。

司法部律师在法庭文件中警告布林克玛，如果允许谷歌保留其所有广告技术，该公司仍然能够找到“以难以察觉的方式操纵其垄断引擎——计算机算法”的方法。

谷歌在反驳中辩称，拆分一个复杂的广告分发网络过于苛刻，而在线出版商依靠该网络来资助数百万消费者使用的数字服务。

根据谷歌在法庭文件中提供的估计数据，本案涉及的广告交易平台所依赖的技术每秒可处理 5500 万次请求。在布林克玛法官做出裁决之前，谷歌曾警告说：“这项技术必须继续为消费者服务。”

布林克玛在判决书中表示，她同意双方提出的绝大多数补救措施。

尽管这些变化表面上可能会以某种方式撼动现状，从而降低谷歌的收入，或者至少减缓其未来的增长，但大多数投资者似乎可能会将这项裁决视为一家最近因人工智能技术而飞速发展的公司所遇到的一个减速带。

这已成为人们对美国地区法官阿米特·梅塔在搜索垄断案中作出的判决的普遍看法。自华盛顿特区做出该判决以来，Alphabet的股价已飙升45%，为股东创造了1.3万亿美元（5.25万亿令吉）的额外财富。——美联社

在特朗普下令更改名称后，安大略湖在谷歌地图上对美国用户现在被称为美洲湖。

黑客利用谷歌文档的一项功能设下陷阱，诱骗安全专家。

如何在谷歌地图中测量直线距离和土地面积

感谢您的报告！

互联网开始强制所有人出示身份证件。这些初创公司正从中赚取数百万美元。

沙巴州部长表示，Jendela二期工程必须提供可靠的互联网，而不仅仅是更多的信号塔。

台湾短暂降低移动网络速度至仅支持短信，作为国防演习的一部分