A new antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet has been launched in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states are seeking to force the sale of Google AdX, an advertising exchange that the court has ruled gives the company an illegal monopoly in the online advertising market.
A new antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet has been launched in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states are seeking to force the sale of Google AdX, an advertising exchange that the court has ruled gives the company an illegal monopoly in the online advertising market.
According to Reuters, the government and the plaintiffs are demanding that Google not only relinquish control over AdX, but also make the algorithm that determines the winners of ad auctions open source. AdX is a key platform through which publishers sell inventory, and Google takes a 20% commission on each deal.
Google has rejected the government’s demands, arguing that selling AdX is technically unrealistic and would create lasting uncertainty for advertisers and publishers. Instead, the company has proposed relaxing its own rules, making it easier for third-party platforms to access it and allowing more use of competing services. The Justice Department says these steps are not enough to restore competition.
The case is being handled by Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled in April 2025 that Google illegally tied its own ad management server to AdX, providing its advertisers with «first and last click» in the auction. This, the court said, limited the interests of publishers and undermined the integrity of the auctions. At this stage, the court must determine what measures to apply to the company.
Former executives from News Corp, DailyMail.com and Advance Local are expected to testify. They have already testified in previous hearings and said that Google has used its dominant position to the detriment of independent media for years. Additional evidence for the government may come from internal Google documents that show that the company previously even considered selling AdX in negotiations with the EU to avoid fines.
The antitrust lawsuits against Google are part of a broader U.S. campaign against Big Tech that has been ongoing since the Trump administration. Earlier this year, a Washington court dismissed most of the DOJ’s claims in a case alleging Google’s monopoly in search, but in Europe the company was fined nearly €3 billion for online advertising abuses. AdX remains one of Alphabet’s main sources of revenue, so the outcome of the current trial will determine the future of Google’s advertising empire.
Earlier, dev.ua wrote about how the European Commission announced a fine of 2.95 billion euros (almost $3.5 billion) on Google for violating EU antitrust rules. The regulator concluded that the company systematically favored its own services in advertising tools.
