A US federal court has rejected the structural breakup and divestiture remedies sought against Google’s ad-tech business, imposing behavioural measures instead that change how parts of its publisher-side advertising infrastructure must interact with publishers and rival systems.
Judge Leonie Brinkema entered the bottom-line remedies order on 2 September 2026; the full 106-page memorandum opinion became public on 16 September. The parties are due to submit a proposed Final Judgment by 2 October, so the framework is set but implementation is not yet complete.
Google’s AdX exchange and DFP publisher ad server, now part of Google Ad Manager, must support interoperability with Prebid. AdX must also make real-time bids available through competing publisher ad servers, while publishers must be able to access and export relevant DFP and AdX data.
The measures also impose non-discrimination rules on interactions between Google-owned and rival systems. AdWords may not receive preferential bidding treatment solely because participating systems are Google-owned, and may not bid directly into DFP.
The court declined to order Google to divest either AdX or DFP. Compliance will instead be overseen by an independent monitor and technical committee under a six-year regime.
For publishers, the verified change is operational rather than economic: the measures give them more ways to connect rival systems to Google’s infrastructure and retrieve relevant data. They do not establish that publishers will switch providers, competition has already increased or revenues will improve.
The remedies follow the court’s 2025 finding that Google unlawfully monopolised publisher-side ad-server and ad-exchange markets and unlawfully tied DFP and AdX. Google says it intends to appeal that liability ruling. As of 22 September, no notice of appeal or stay had been verified.