Google should relax ad tech rules, appoint antitrust monitor: US judge

A federal judge has ruled that Alphabet's Google should relax its ad tech rules and appoint an internal antitrust compliance monitor, but did not demand a break-up of the company's advertising technology monopoly. Advertising generated roughly 73% of Alphabet's $408 billion in revenue last year. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema made her decision in a 106-page ruling on September 16, two weeks after rejecting the US Department of Justice's demand for Google to break up its ad business.

Brinkema suggested changes to Google's practices instead of breaking up the company, citing that the remedies would effectively open up ad tech markets to competition and prevent Google from reverting to anticompetitive behavior. Google disagreed with the liability ruling on its Google Ad Manager publishing tool and will appeal.

The judge's decision spared Google from breaking up another part of its internet empire and prevented a potential sale of its widely used Chrome browser. The government had wanted Google to divest its AdX platform, but Brinkema rejected that remedy, stating that access to real-time bids from AdX would restore competition. Google would also cease practices that kept publishers locked into Google's ad tech tools, and a monitor would be necessary due to the gravity of Google's antitrust violations. The changes must remain in place for six years, not the 15 years initially sought.