A U.S. judge has ruled against the Department of Justice’s attempt to force Google to divest its advertising exchange, AdX, allowing the tech giant to maintain a significant component of its advertising technology operations. Judge Leonie Brinkema’s decision comes in the wake of a 2025 ruling that determined Google had unlawfully upheld monopolies in the realms of publisher ad servers and advertising exchanges.
While the judge declined to mandate the sale of AdX, she did approve the majority of the proposed conduct restrictions on Google. This decision marks another challenge for U.S. antitrust regulators who have been striving to dismantle dominant technology companies, as previous efforts targeting other major tech firms have also failed to secure the divestiture of assets.
The Justice Department, alongside several U.S. states, argued that Google’s historical behavior warranted the company losing control over AdX. However, Google countered that enforcing such a sale would be technically challenging and could potentially disrupt its customers.
With this ruling, Google retains control over its advertising exchange, albeit under new behavioral guidelines aimed at addressing competition concerns and the company’s interactions with publishers. This outcome underscores the ongoing complexities in regulating large tech firms and balancing market competition with innovation.