A United States judge has decided against the Department of Justice’s push to compel Google to divest its advertising exchange platform, AdX. This ruling permits Google to maintain a crucial segment of its ad technology business despite the government’s efforts to impose a sale.
Judge Leonie Brinkema opted not to mandate the sale of AdX, though she did approve most of the proposed limitations on Google’s operations. This decision emerges from a 2025 court ruling that concluded Google had unlawfully preserved monopolies within the markets for publisher ad servers and advertising exchanges.
The Justice Department, along with several U.S. states, argued that Google’s previous conduct warranted stripping the company of control over AdX. Google’s defense against the proposed sale highlighted the technical challenges and potential disruptions to customers that could arise from separating the platform.
This ruling marks another setback for U.S. antitrust regulators in their attempts to dismantle major tech corporations. Prior efforts targeting other significant tech entities have similarly failed to achieve enforced asset divestitures.
By allowing Google to retain its advertising exchange while imposing behavioral conditions, the decision aims to address competitive concerns and issues related to Google’s interactions with publishers.