The U.S. government is intensifying its battle against Google, and this time it’s not just about Chrome. The Justice Department is now demanding that Google dismantle core parts of its sprawling advertising business, escalating an already high-stakes antitrust case.
On Monday evening, the Justice Department filed a proposal in court outlining its latest request: Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., should be required to sell off two major advertising technology services. The first is AdX, Google’s ad exchange platform. The second is its publisher ad server, the system that helps websites manage and sell their ad inventory. The filing calls for a “phased divestiture” of both.
This demand comes in the wake of a pivotal legal ruling from April 2025, where U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema concluded that Google had unlawfully monopolized the markets for both ad exchanges and publisher ad servers. As detailed in the new court documents, the Justice Department believes divesting these parts of Google’s business is the only way to end what they describe as its “illegal scheme” to dominate digital advertising.
To break it down, a publisher ad server acts as the central system that manages which ads appear on a website and at what price. Meanwhile, an ad exchange like AdX is where advertisers bid to place those ads in real time. The government has long claimed that Google uses its dominance in both areas to tilt the playing field in its favor—forcing advertisers and publishers into its tightly controlled ecosystem.
This proposed breakup of Google’s ad tech empire comes as part of a broader crackdown. In a separate antitrust case, the Justice Department is also targeting Google’s search dominance, even calling for the breakup of the Chrome browser. Combined, these legal battles mark a major regulatory push to curb the company’s influence across multiple sectors of the internet.
Google, for its part, hasn’t commented yet on this latest development. However, according to Bloomberg, the company is expected to respond soon with its own counterproposal. In past statements, Google has argued that breaking up its ad business is unwarranted—especially since the judge didn’t criticize several of its previous acquisitions. The company maintains that its ad tools succeed because they deliver results for publishers, and it plans to appeal April’s ruling.
A final decision on how Google will need to comply isn’t expected for several months. Judge Brinkema has scheduled a hearing in September to consider arguments from both sides. But the Justice Department has made its position clear: minor behavioral changes won’t cut it. Officials believe that forcing the sale of these ad tech businesses is the only way to restore real competition to the market.
So far, 2025 hasn’t been kind to Big Tech. Just days ago, Apple was compelled to overhaul its App Store policies to permit third-party payment options, giving developers more freedom. These recent decisions mark a shift in regulatory tone and are widely seen as a win for consumer choice and digital competition.