Google Ordered to Relax Ad Auction Rules, Appoint Antitrust Monitor
A US judge has ordered Google to relax its rules governing online advertising auctions and appoint an antitrust compliance monitor, but stopped short of demanding a breakup of its advertising technology monopoly.
The decision was made by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, two weeks after she rejected the US Department of Justice's insistence that Google break up AdX, where publishers pay a 20% fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites.
Brinkema accepted proposals that Google not require websites that use its ad server to also use its ad exchange, where the company reaps fees in instant auctions that sell space to advertisers. She also ordered Google to cease practices that publishers complained kept them locked into Google's ad tech tools.
The remedies will remain in place for six years, which is less than the 15 years sought by the Justice Department and various states that also sued.