US Judge Rejects Google Ad Tech Breakup, Orders Behavioral Adjustments
A US District Judge has rejected the Department of Justice's (DOJ) push to break up Google's advertising business, instead ordering the company to loosen its rules governing online auctions and appoint an internal compliance monitor. The ruling follows a previous finding that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over publisher ad servers and open-web display advertising tools.
The judge rejected the DOJ's request for Alphabet to sell off its AdX ad exchange and other core publishing assets, instead mandating behavioral adjustments. Google must stop requiring websites using its ad server to also use its ad exchange (AdX) and lift restrictive auction policies that critics argued locked publishers into its ecosystem and depressed ad earnings.
The company is required to establish an internal oversight mechanism with an antitrust compliance monitor to oversee adherence to the changes for a period of six years. The DOJ hailed parts of the framework as a significant step toward restoring competition, but critics noted that sparing Google from a breakup leaves its core advertising machinery intact.