US Court Orders Google to Reform Ad Business Practices and Appoint Compliance Monitor
Photo: Collected
A United States federal court has delivered a verdict against technology giant Google over allegations of maintaining a monopoly in the online advertising market, sparing the company from a breakup while imposing strict operational conditions to curb its dominance.
The ruling was handed down on Wednesday by Judge Leonie Brinkema of the District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, following a joint lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice and several state attorneys general. The plaintiffs had accused Google of illegally suppressing competition by monopolizing the digital advertising market.
Under the court's directives, Google has been ordered to relax certain rules governing its online ad auctions and must appoint an internal monitor to oversee compliance and prevent the distortion of market competition. The judge notably rejected the plaintiffs' push to completely dismantle Google's online advertising business, a request she had dismissed two weeks prior.
Judge Brinkema stated that evidence of Google's illegal monopolization in certain areas of ad tech was established in April 2025. She added that the ruling aims to open up competition in an ad tech market damaged by Google's monopoly and ensure fair market practices moving forward.
Google expressed disagreement with the verdict and announced plans to appeal. The tech giant argued that breaking up its business would have made it significantly harder for small businesses to reach everyday consumers.
Conversely, U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. hailed the decision in a statement as a major victory in the fight to restore market competition, adding that the ruling will be reviewed to determine further legal steps.
The U.S. government had previously sought to force Google to divest its ad exchange platform, known as AdEx, through which website owners pay a 20 percent fee to display advertisements determined by real-time auctions when users visit a site. The government argued that Google could no longer be trusted to operate the auction system.
While Judge Brinkema rejected the demand to force a sale of AdEx, ruling instead that genuine competition can be restored by allowing third-party ad networks to participate in instant AdEx auctions, she did grant several other government requests. Under the new mandates, Google can no longer force websites using its ad tools to exclusively utilize AdEx, and the company must abolish rules that compelled publishers to rely on its technology.
Google has been instructed to comply with these conditions for the next six years, falling short of the 15-year compliance period sought by the plaintiffs.
In a separate antitrust action last September, another U.S. judge ordered Google to take steps to increase competition in its search engine business. While the government had sought the sale of the Chrome browser, the judge did not order its divestment but prohibited Google from entering into exclusive default agreements related to Chrome and mandated the sharing of search data with competitors.
According to court data, advertising accounted for approximately 73 percent of Google parent company Alphabet's revenue last year. Global spending on digital advertising stood at 424 billion dollars in 2023 and is projected to reach nearly 605 billion dollars by next year.
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