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A federal judge found Google unlawfully maintained monopoly power in two markets for open-web display advertising technology and unlawfully tied its publisher ad server to its ad exchange. But the court did not order Google to break up those businesses. The later judgment instead imposes behavioral requirements, including interoperability, publisher data access and oversight, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
What the judge found Google did illegally
In its April 17, 2025 liability decision, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that Google unlawfully acquired and maintained monopoly power in two defined worldwide markets: publisher ad servers for open-web display advertising and ad exchanges for open-web display advertising. The court also found that Google unlawfully tied its publisher ad server, known as DFP, to its ad exchange, AdX, under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.
The ruling was narrower than a finding that Google monopolized all online advertising. The court dismissed the separate Section 2 claim concerning the advertiser ad-network market. The case, United States, Commonwealth of Virginia, State of California, State of Colorado, State of Connecticut, State of New Jersey, State of New York, State of Rhode Island and State of Tennessee v. Google LLC, opened on January 24, 2023. The DOJ case page links the relevant court opinions and filings.
Did the judge order Google to break up its ad-tech business?
No. The plaintiffs sought structural relief, including divestiture of AdX and changes to DFP’s auction system. After a separate remedies proceeding, the court declined to order a sale or separation. Its opinion states that “the Court finds that structural remedies are neither realistic nor needed,” and concludes that modified behavioral remedies would be sufficient.
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The distinction matters: a structural remedy changes who owns an asset or separates a business, while a behavioral remedy requires a company to follow rules about how its existing services operate. The liability ruling established violations; the later remedy decision set the consequences. The court’s remedies opinion describes an 11-day bench trial with testimony from 26 witnesses—figures about the proceedings, not measures of market size or the remedies’ likely success.
What changes does the final judgment require?
The DOJ’s September 16, 2026 summary of the final judgment describes requirements focused on access, interoperability, bidding and compliance:
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- Connect competing tools: Google must create and support integrations between AdX and Prebid, and between DFP and Prebid.
- Submit AdX bids to other ad servers: AdX must provide real-time bids to other publisher ad servers.
- Give publishers access to their data: Publishers must be able to access and export their data from DFP and AdX.
- Restrict preferential bidding: AdWords may not bid preferentially into AdX or other Google ad-tech tools based on Google’s ownership, and may not bid directly into DFP.
- Monitor compliance: A monitor and technical committee will oversee compliance for six years.
These terms are behavioral remedies, not an order to sell AdX or to open-source DFP’s auction logic. The details above reflect DOJ’s summary of the judgment; the case page provides access to the court filings.
What DFP, AdX and Prebid do
The ruling concerns tools used at different points in the process of selling advertising on websites. A publisher ad server helps a site manage and serve ad placements. DFP is Google’s publisher ad server. An ad exchange runs auctions that connect advertising inventory with bids from buyers; AdX is Google’s exchange. Prebid is a technology publishers can use to solicit bids from multiple demand sources.
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That division helps explain why the judgment emphasizes integrations and real-time bids: the requirements concern how publisher-side tools and exchanges connect and compete, rather than a general ban on Google selling advertisements. The case also involved advertiser-side services, but the court dismissed the claim about the advertiser ad-network market.
What the decision could mean for publishers and advertisers
For publishers, the judgment’s specified changes include connections to Prebid, access to and export of their DFP and AdX data, and AdX bids reaching other publisher ad servers in real time. The aim of these rules is to govern access and competitive conditions; the judgment summary does not establish how much any publisher’s revenue, fees or choice of vendors will change.
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For advertisers, the stated restriction concerns AdWords bidding preferentially into Google ad-tech tools based on common ownership, as well as bidding directly into DFP. The judgment does not promise lower ad prices or quantify effects on campaign performance. Those outcomes should not be treated as guaranteed from the existence of the remedies alone.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What remains uncertain
The DOJ’s September 16, 2026 summary describes the final judgment and six years of oversight, but the materials identified here do not establish later implementation milestones, an appeal, or a stay. Those developments can affect when and how requirements take effect; they should be checked against the current court record rather than assumed.
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The remedies opinion also recounts that AdX charged a 20% take rate per open-web display transaction for more than a decade. That is a historical description in the court’s opinion, not a statement of AdX’s current pricing. Separately, the Associated Press reported Google’s estimate of 55 million requests per second for the technology underlying its exchange; that is an estimate attributed to Google, not a judicial finding.
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