Google Ordered to Relax Ad Tech Rules and Appoint Antitrust Monitor

A US federal judge has told Google to relax its rules for online advertising auctions and appoint an antitrust compliance monitor, but stopped short of ordering a breakup of its ad tech monopoly.

The decision by Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, was made public on Wednesday after she rejected the US Department of Justice's insistence that Google break up its business of placing ads across the internet.

Brinkema found that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over some online ad technology in April 2025, but instead of breaking it up, she ordered changes to its business practices.

The remedies include ceasing practices that kept publishers locked into Google's ad tech tools and not requiring websites using its ad server to also use AdX, a tool where publishers pay a 20% fee to sell ads in auctions.