Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. The ruling in Google’s ad tech antitrust case: guilty. The remedy: no break-up…

Google won’t have to break up its ad tech business, Judge Brinkema rules
Source: AdExchanger
September 2nd, 2026

Summary: The judge in Google's ad tech antitrust case says the company won't have to sell any part of its ad tech business. Instead, Google will have to make changes to how it operates. 

Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled last year that Google was illegally monopolizing two critical areas of ad tech: publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. She also ruled that Google violated antitrust law by tying its ad server (formerly known as DoubleClick for Publishers, or DFP) to its ad exchange, AdX.

Last Wednesday, Brinkema issued a short preview order. Brinkema's full opinion won't be released for 14 days, which would be around September 16th, so we don't know the exact remedies Google will have to adhere to yet, just the broad strokes of what she rejected and accepted.

Here's what we know so far: 

• Rejected: Structural remedies, aka “The Nuclear Option”. Google won't be forced to sell AdX (its ad exchange) or its ad server (DFP, now part of Google Ad Manager). It also won't have to open-source DFP's auction logic. 

• Accepted: "Most" of the proposed behavioral remedies, but "as modified by the court," meaning some could look different than originally proposed. Some of the behavioral remedies on the table:

  ○ Sharing real-time AdX bid data with other ad servers

  ○ Letting publishers set different price floors for different bidders (instead of one flat rule for everyone)

  ○ Removing Google's "first look" or "last look" advantage over competitors (Google says it no longer does this)

  ○ Potentially integrating AdX into Prebid.org, forcing Google's exchange to compete on more equal footing with others 

The full opinion could stay sealed longer if either side requests redactions. Google and the US Department of Justice have until October 2nd to agree on a final version. 

Opinion: Our initial reaction: Google gets away with it again! No breakup, just a slap on the wrist and a few new rules to follow. Same as the search case. SMDH.

But … the behavioral remedies could be impactful. Banning first look and last look, letting publishers set different floors for different exchanges, forcing AdX demand to flow outside Google: this stuff is real. Publishers won’t give up nearly as much by leaving DFP anymore. That’s great for publishers, open web ad tech, and advertisers.

But does it matter? While courts force Google to even the open web ad tech playing field, Google’s consumer-facing AI is pulling publisher traffic back into Google’s walled garden and Google is monetizing it through its own O&O ad business instead. Google's zero-click searches hit an all-time high of 68% in 2026, and the number keeps climbing. Google (along with other AI) is effectively killing the open web. Now, thanks to this ruling, expect Google to lean into that strategy even harder.

Sure, Magnite and PubMatic get a temporary tailwind: better win rates, better margins on whatever open-web display inventory survives. Publishers get back a pricing lever. The DOJ gets to call it "substantial relief." But in the grand scheme, it’s small beans (and the beans are only getting smaller).

The DOJ won yesterday's battle. Google's already moved on to the next one.

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