On April 17th, 2025, Judge Brinkema ruled that Google did act illegally to acquire and maintain monopoly power in online advertising. Now, DOJ and Google lawyers are returning to the courtroom to argue over whether this should lead to a Google breakup by forcing the company to sell its AdX exchange.
In the initial trial, the DOJ argued that Google unfairly locked up the market for ad tech tools that publishers and advertisers rely on to monetize their websites and market their goods. Google responded that it created efficient products that work well for customers and said it faced plenty of competition.