Google's Ad-Tech Business Spared Breakup, But Must Make Interoperability Changes

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has declined to break up Google's ad-tech business, but is forcing significant changes to its operations.

The Department of Justice had accused Google of not being trustworthy in running AdX fairly, with publishers paying a 20% fee to sell advertising through the platform.

However, instead of breaking up the company, Brinkema has ordered Google to make interoperability changes, including disconnecting its publisher ad server from AdX and allowing websites using the server not to be required to use AdX as well.

The changes aim to add competition back into the market by preventing Google from favoring its own tools over competitors.

Google will still need to appoint an internal antitrust compliance monitor, but the restrictions are only set to last six years, a decision that was met with disappointment from the DOJ who had wanted 15 years of monitoring.