A judge previously determined that Google had illegally monopolized two ad technology markets.
Google can keep its AdX ad exchange, but it will have to make some changes to its business, according to a federal judge’s ruling. The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Judge Leonie Brinkema to force the company to sell AdX after ruling last year that Google broke the law to monopolize two ad technology markets. Brinkema rejected this request in a judgment handed down on Wednesday.
The judge accepted the undisclosed “behavioral solutions” proposed by the parties. According to BloombergThis implies that Google must open its ad technology tools to its competitors. Brinkema’s decision was published under seal to give the parties time to review it and seek necessary reactions.
“We are very pleased that the Court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to divide the tools for small businesses to reach new customers and grow,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Publishers use AdX to sell unused ad space to advertisers in real time, just as the user loads a web page. They pay Google a 20% fee to do this.
The DOJ and eight states sued Google in 2023, claiming the company used its monopoly position to charge higher fees and facilitate a higher proportion of advertising sales. The government claimed that Google had an 87% share of the advertising sales technology market. Brinkema ruled in April last year that Google violated antitrust law by requiring publishers who host ads on the company’s servers to use AdX.
Google has faced scrutiny elsewhere regarding AdX and other ad sales tools. Last September, the European Union executive fined it $3.5 billion after determining it was giving preferential treatment to its ad tech products. The same month, a district judge ruled that Google would not be forced to sell Chrome after determining that the company had a monopoly on online search.
