{
  "id": 8032254,
  "title": "Google's ad tech monopoly will remain, but must relax rules and appoint antitrust monitor",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/googles-ad-tech-monopoly-will-remain-but-must-relax-rules-and-appoint",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-17T13:15:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRadar",
    "slug": "techradar",
    "url": "https://www.techradar.com/pro/googles-ad-tech-monopoly-will-remain-but-must-relax-rules-and-appoint-antitrust-monitor"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Department of Justice has ruled that Google's ad-tech monopoly will not be broken up, but the company must undergo significant changes to its business model and be monitored for six years. Judge Leonie Brinkema decided that instead of a breakup, Google needs to make changes to improve interoperability and prevent it from favoring its own tools over competitors. The tech giant will need to disconnect its publisher ad server from AdX, a platform that requires publishers to pay a 20% fee to sell advertisements. This move aims to increase competition in the market by allowing websites to use alternative ad servers without being forced to use AdX as well. While the restrictions and monitoring will only last six years, the DOJ had initially sought a 15-year period of restrictions. Despite avoiding the harshest punishment, Google claims it disagrees with the decision and intends to appeal the ruling. Advertising generated $294.7 billion in revenue for Google last fiscal year, which is around 73% of the company's total revenue of $402.8 billion.",
  "summary": "Google will need to improve interoperability for its ads business, but it won't be forced to divest the business.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}