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Google Avoids Ad-Tech Breakup as U.S. Court Rejects Sale of AdX

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • A federal court in Virginia rejected the U.S. Justice Department’s request to force Google to sell its Google Ad Exchange advertising platform.
  • The court found that Google held an illegal monopoly in the ad-tech market, but ordered behavioral remedies, including giving rivals access to real-time advertising bids.
  • The ruling marks the third recent case in which a court rejected U.S. regulators’ demands to break up a major technology company.

Google has avoided a forced sale of its advertising exchange, escaping a breakup threat even after a U.S. court found that it had built an illegal monopoly in the ad-tech market.

A federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, rejected the Justice Department’s demand that Google sell Google Ad Exchange, known as AdX. The platform runs real-time auctions for online advertising space. Publishers pay Google a commission of 20% when they sell advertising through the system.

The court instead accepted behavioral remedies proposed by the Justice Department. Google will have to change anticompetitive practices, including by providing competitors with access to real-time advertising bids. The ruling followed an earlier finding that Google had effectively tied publishers using its ad server to AdX, helping it establish an illegal monopoly in the advertising exchange market.

We are very pleased that the court rejected the Justice Department’s demand to separate tools that help small businesses attract customers and grow.

· GoogleGoogle welcomed the court’s rejection of the proposed AdX sale.

The Justice Department and several state governments sued Google in 2023. They argued that the company controlled key parts of the online advertising system, including Google Ad Manager, used by publishers to place ads, and AdX, which connects advertisers and publishers. Prosecutors said Google linked publishers’ ad servers to its own exchange and gave AdX priority in bidding opportunities.

The decision follows courts’ rejection of other proposed technology breakups. The Justice Department previously sought the sale of Chrome, which it said played a central role in Google’s online search monopoly. The court rejected that request. The Federal Trade Commission also sought to make Meta sell Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that its acquisitions helped create a social-media monopoly, but the court did not accept the demand. Google said it was “very pleased that the court rejected the Justice Department’s demand to separate tools that help small businesses attract customers and grow.” Sasha Haworth of the nonprofit Tech Oversight Project criticized the decision, saying it “shows that the courts alone cannot save us from Big Tech.”

It shows that the courts alone cannot save us from Big Tech.

· Sasha HaworthThe Tech Oversight Project official criticized the ruling.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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