Judge Brinkema of a federal district court in Virginia on the 16th ordered Google to revise the operating rules for its online advertising auction business and to install an internal antitrust compliance monitor. However, she rejected the Department of Justice's request to break up the company's advertising technology business. Brinkema had ruled in April 2025 that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in some online advertising technology markets, and in this day's ruling she noted that the remedies are sufficient to open the impaired ad tech market to competition. The Justice Department had sought the sale of AdX, the advertising exchange that publishers use to sell ad space, but Brinkema denied the divestiture request, saying competition could be restored by allowing other companies' ad servers to access AdX's real-time bidding. The remedies are to apply for six years, far short of the 15 years sought by the Justice Department and the states that filed the suit. Google has indicated it will appeal, saying it cannot agree with the finding of liability regarding its ad delivery management tool Google Ad Manager.
Alphabet Inc Class CCourt rejected the DOJ's bid to break up Google's ad tech business and imposed limited remedies (rules revision plus compliance monitor for six years), a lighter outcome than the sought AdX divestiture.
