US judge rejects bid to break up Google’s ad business

By AFP and Reuters. Published On 2 Sep 20262 Sep 2026.

Key points

• Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, remarked the rulings "prove that the courts alone will not save us from Big Tech".
• Brinkema filed her opinion under seal for 14 days, leaving the details of how Google must change its ad business unknown for now.
• "We're very pleased the court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow, " remarked Google executive Lee-Anne Mulholland.
• Google's shares pared gains slightly after the ruling and were up 0.6 percent.
• The case focused on Google's ad tech "stack" – the suite of tools that website publishers employ to sell ads and advertisers apply to purchase them.

Alphabet's Google has escaped a breakup of its advertising technology business, marking the third time over recent years that United States antitrust enforcers have tried to force a Major Tech breakup and lost.

US Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday declined to create Google sell AdX, where publishers pay Google a 20 percent fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites.

Notably, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had argued Google could not be trusted to run the online advertising exchange after Brinkema ruled that Google had illegally quashed competition. The judge accepted behavioural remedies. The reasoning behind today's decision was not immediately created public.

Brinkema filed her opinion under seal for 14 days, leaving the details of how Google must change its ad business unknown for now. She offered the two sides 30 days to submit a joint proposed final judgement.

Notably, the case focused on Google's ad tech "stack" – the suite of tools that website publishers employ to sell ads and advertisers apply to purchase them.

Brinkema ruled last year that Google had willfully monopolised both the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets, and had unlawfully tied the two products together. Google has remarked it will appeal the underlying liability ruling.

In practice, the government's case portrayed Google as simultaneously controlling multiple sides of the digital advertising marketplace and owning the platform that publishers employ to sell ads as well as the exchange where transactions occur – all while commanding enormous advertiser demand. Prosecutors had sought the sale of Google's ad auction site AdX and the open-sourcing of critical auction technology.

Google characterised the proposed remedies as extreme administration overreach that would harm publishers, advertisers and consumers. It had additionally argued that splitting up the service would be technically unfeasible.

AdX is a small part of Google's business. Google's shares pared gains slightly after the ruling and were up 0.6 percent.

In practice, the firm welcomed the court decision. "We're very pleased the court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow, " remarked Google executive Lee-Anne Mulholland.

Meanwhile, the DOJ is "pleased that the court ordered substantial relief", it remarked in a social media post on X.

"We are one step closer to restoring competition and bringing relief for the American individuals in online advertising markets. The Department is evaluating appropriate next steps, " the DOJ remarked. US tech crackdown in jeopardy.

While Google has been ordered to change some business practices, the ruling is the third time in a row that a judge has rejected a bid by US antitrust enforcers to break up Major Tech.

Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, remarked the rulings "prove that the courts alone will not save us from Big Tech". The advocacy group has proposed legislation aimed at restoring competition in digital advertising.

In practice, a federal judge in Washington last year rejected an attempt by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create Meta Platforms sell off Instagram and WhatsApp, saying the agency failed to prove that Meta holds a monopoly in a social media landscape that has shifted drastically since the case was brought in 2020. The FTC has filed an appeal.

Likewise, another judge in Washington. This person previously ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search, rejected the DOJ's bid to create the business sell its Chrome browser, citing rising competition from generative artificial intelligence firms such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

In short, US judge rejects bid to break up Google's ad business is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.