A US judge has decided against the Department of Justice’s bid to compel Google to divest its advertising exchange, AdX, allowing the tech giant to maintain this significant component of its ad technology operations. This ruling comes as Judge Leonie Brinkema approved most of the proposed conduct restrictions for Google, although she stopped short of mandating the sale of AdX.
The case stems from a 2025 ruling that determined Google had unlawfully preserved monopolies in markets for publisher ad servers and advertising exchanges. The Justice Department, alongside several US states, contended that Google’s previous actions justified relinquishing control over AdX. However, Google countered that detaching the platform would present technical challenges and potentially disrupt services for its customers.
This judgment marks another obstacle for US antitrust authorities in their efforts to dismantle major technology companies. Preceding attempts to enforce asset sales in similar cases against other significant tech firms have also not succeeded, highlighting the difficulties faced by regulators in addressing the dominance of these industry giants.
Despite the retention of its advertising exchange, Google will have to adhere to behavioral measures designed to mitigate concerns about competition and its interactions with publishers. These measures aim to address some of the competitive issues raised by the authorities, even as the company retains its core advertising infrastructure.