US Judge Rejects Justice Department Bid to Break Up Google Ad Business

A federal judge on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, rejected the U.S. Justice Department attempt to compel Google to divest significant portions of its advertising technology business, opting instead for behavioral remedies.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, presiding over the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, mandated a series of behavioral regulations to govern Google operations in the ad market. The decision follows Judge Brinkema's April 2025 ruling that Google had unlawfully monopolized the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets within the open-web display advertising technology ecosystem, and had illegally tied these two products together. The Justice Department, alongside eight states, initiated the antitrust lawsuit against Google in January 2023, alleging the company monopolization of key digital advertising market segments. Google had contended that a forced breakup of its ad manager would be technically complex and detrimental to customers.

The full judicial opinion detailing the specific behavioral remedies has been temporarily sealed for 14 days to allow for redactions, and both parties have been given 30 days to submit a jointly proposed final judgment. According to court disclosures, Google's AdX exchange charges publishers a 20 percent fee to sell ads.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google vice president for regulatory affairs, stated, "We're very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow."

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said, "The Antitrust Division is pleased that the court ordered substantial relief in the Google Ad Tech case. We are one step closer to restoring competition and bringing relief for the American people in online advertising markets."

The Justice Department had advocated for a structural breakup, asserting that Google could not be trusted to manage the online advertising exchange given its history of anticompetitive behavior. Antitrust advocates and some analysts have characterized behavioral remedies as mere inconvenient speed bumps without fundamental structural changes.

This marks the second instance in recent years where a federal judge has declined to dismantle a segment of Google business, following a ruling last year where a judge refused to mandate the sale of its Chrome browser in a separate monopoly case concerning online search. Similarly, Meta Platforms Inc. successfully fended off the Federal Trade Commission attempt to undo its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

For Google, the decision represents a significant victory, allowing its ad-tech business to remain intact. Advertisers and publishers are expected to benefit from Google's ad exchange being required to work more seamlessly with competing services due to the imposed behavioral remedies, potentially increasing market choice.

Shares of publicly traded adtech companies, including The Trade Desk, AppLovin, Magnite, and Taboola, experienced a rise in trading following the judge decision. Both parties must submit their jointly proposed final judgment within 30 days of the September 2, 2026 ruling.