A federal court has ordered Google to overhaul ground rules governing its lucrative online advertising auctions. However, the ruling stopped short of granting the U.S. Department of Justice’s core demand that would have forced a structural breakup of the tech giant’s digital ad empire.

The 106-page decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., was unsealed Wednesday following a mandatory 14-day confidentiality redaction window.

The ruling builds upon Brinkema’s determination last April that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over crucial ad-technology platforms connecting publishers and advertisers.

Rather than ordering Alphabet Inc. to sell off its ad exchange (AdX) or open-source its publisher server tools, Brinkema imposed targeted behavioral remedies designed to restore market competition over a six-year period.

Under the court order, Google is strictly prohibited from enforcing policies that tie its publisher ad server, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), directly to AdX. The tech firm must make both platforms fully interoperable with rival publisher servers and third-party header bidding software. Additionally, Google is barred from giving its own platforms preference in bid auctions and must grant publishers equal access to bid data.

To enforce compliance, Brinkema ordered the appointment of an internal antitrust compliance monitor, though with less oversight scope than federal prosecutors had requested.

Brinkema explicitly rejected the Justice Department’s push for forced divestiture, characterizing the government’s argument as rooted in an unrealistic desire for certainty.

“The Court finds that structural remedies are neither realistic nor needed,” Brinkema wrote, emphasizing that “lack of trust alone or desire for ‘guaranteed certainty’ cannot justify divestiture.”

The decision grants Google a crucial reprieve as its parent company, Alphabet, races against competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The ad tech business remains vital to that effort; digital advertising generated approximately 73% of Alphabet’s revenue last year, underpinning a market valuation that exceeds $4.1 trillion.

The ruling also marks the second time a federal judge has refused to dismantle Google’s core product ecosystem. Last September, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta similarly found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal search monopoly yet ultimately denied the government’s attempt to force a sale of the Chrome web browser.

Despite escaping a breakup, Google voiced opposition to the underlying liability ruling concerning its Google Ad Manager suite and confirmed plans to appeal. The company maintained that a forced divestiture would have ultimately harmed small businesses trying to reach consumers efficiently.

Justice Department officials nevertheless framed the mandatory behavioral changes as a significant milestone. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward called the decision a “significant victory for this Department’s efforts to protect and restore competition,” adding that federal prosecutors are reviewing the opinion to evaluate further legal options.

Both parties now have 30 days to file a proposed final judgment reflecting the mandated remedies.