On 17 April 2025, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that, among other things, Google, LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, "has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power in the open-web display publisher ad server market and the open-web display ad exchange market, and has unlawfully tied its publisher ad server (DFP) and ad exchange (AdX) in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act" (CNN, US v. Google LLC - Memorandum Opinion 17 April 2025). The next stage of the litigation is the remedies trial, scheduled to begin in September 2025, where the plaintiffs will request actions by the court they think are necessary to address the finding that Google's advertising business is a monopoly (CNBC). As of the launch of this question, the Justice Department was asking the court to impose structural remedies, such as breaking the company up into two or more firms and/or forcing Google to divest some of its business lines or products (e.g., Google Ad Exchange, or AdX) (MarTech). The outcome will be determined based on final judgments and orders entered by the court and open-source reporting on actions. Any subsequent appeals are immaterial. A judgment or order including only structural relief contingent upon future events and findings alone will not count (e.g., US v. Google - Plantiffs' Initial Proposed Final Judgment 20 November 2024, see Section V(D) on page 11). For an historic example, see the order and final judgment from trial court in US v. Microsoft, in which the judge ordered a structural reorganization (i.e., a breakup), which was later reversed on appeal (US v. Microsoft - Memorandum and Order 7 June 2000, Politico).

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