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

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has ruled that Google should modify its ad technology rules and appoint an internal antitrust compliance monitor, though she did not call for the company to dismantle its advertising monopoly. The judge's decision, unsealed on Wednesday, came two weeks after she dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice's demand for Google to break up its ad placement business.

The government had sought Google to sell AdX, a platform where publishers pay a 20% fee to participate in instant ad auctions when users load websites. However, Brinkema agreed with Google's proposals to eliminate the requirement for websites using its ad server to also use its ad exchange, where the company earns fees from instant auctions to sell ad space.

Additionally, Google would stop practices that locked publishers into its ad technology tools. The remedies aimed to effectively open the ad tech markets to competition and prevent Google from reverting to anticompetitive behavior in these markets. The changes are to remain in place for six years, as opposed to the 15-year demand by the Justice Department and various states that also sued Google.