Apple’s iOS 27 update, released September 14, stops Safari from loading ads bought through The Trade Desk, an independent ad-buying platform that competes with Google’s. On the same Yahoo page, AdExchanger found The Trade Desk’s bids blocked by Safari and Google’s going through cleanly.
Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be Safari’s default search engine, a figure that came out in the US antitrust case against Google. The judge in that case let the payments continue, with limits. Apple’s browser now shuts out one of Google’s competitors in ad buying and leaves Google’s own ads alone.
What Safari blocks
On iOS 27, Safari refuses every request to adsrvr.org. A Trade Desk engineer told WebKit, the team that builds Safari’s engine, on September 21 that adsrvr.org is the company’s core ad-request and delivery domain. Block it and the ad never arrives. Google’s ads load from ad.doubleclick.net, which is not on the list.
The same list blocks the identity services advertisers use to recognise a visitor across websites: UID2, ID5, LiveRamp, Audigent and Permutive. Apple has used Safari changes against ad businesses before, with Meta and Criteo.
WebKit’s privacy lead, John Wilander, said he would investigate. The bug thread gives no reason for putting an ad-delivery domain on the list and no date for taking it off. The Trade Desk did not answer AdExchanger’s questions.
Apple sells ads too
In the quarter ended June 27, 2026, Apple’s Services revenue reached $30.739 billion, up 12% on a year earlier, and Apple named advertising as one of the two main reasons. Its App Store income is going the other way: Appfigures estimated in August that Apple’s US App Store commission revenue had fallen 18% since January.
So Apple owns the browser, takes billions from Google for the search box inside it, sells its own ads, and has cut off a Google competitor while Google’s ads keep loading. Safari now decides which ad companies reach iPhone users, and the one it lets through is the one paying Apple.
Advertisers buying through The Trade Desk can no longer reach people browsing in Safari on an updated iPhone. Advertisers buying through Google can. Until Apple takes adsrvr.org off the list, an advertiser who wants those readers has one place to send the money.
Further Reading
- Apple’s Latest Operating System Blocks The Trade Desk From Serving Ads On Safari, AdExchanger’s report, with the Yahoo bid test.
- The Trade Desk’s bug report to WebKit, the engineer’s account of what
adsrvr.orgdoes, and WebKit’s replies. - Google’s Payments to Apple Reached $20 Billion in 2022, Bloomberg on the figure disclosed at the antitrust trial.
- Google defends its Safari deal with Apple in antitrust ruling appeal, 9to5Mac on what the judge allowed Google to keep paying.
- Apple’s quarterly report for the quarter ended June 27, 2026, the Services figures and what drove them.
- Apple’s US App Store Commission Revenue Down 18% This Year, MacRumors on the Appfigures estimate.