Key facts
- A U.S. judge rejected the Justice Department's bid to force Google to sell its AdX advertising exchange.
- The ruling is the second symbolic victory for Google against U.S. antitrust enforcers.
- The judge found Google holds illegal monopolies on servers hosting publisher ads and ad exchanges.
- Google unlawfully locked publishers into using its AdX, the judge found.
- This is the third time in a row a judge has rejected a bid by U.S. antitrust enforcers to break up Big Tech.
Alphabet's Google has successfully fended off a U.S. Justice Department attempt to force the sale of its AdX advertising exchange. U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, rejected the bid, stating that while the ad exchange is a small part of Google's business, the ruling represents a significant symbolic victory for the tech giant.
The DOJ and a coalition of states had sued Google in 2023, alleging illegal monopolies in the advertising technology market. In April 2025, Brinkema had previously ruled that Google held illegal monopolies on servers hosting publisher ads and ad exchanges, unlawfully locking publishers into using its AdX. She found this conduct substantially harmed Google's publisher customers, the competitive process, and consumers of information.
During a trial on remedies, the DOJ argued Google could not be trusted to run AdX due to its past behavior. Google countered that a forced sale would be technically difficult, lead to a painful transition, and harm customers. The company also pointed to its own previous offer to sell AdX to resolve an EU antitrust investigation.
This decision marks the third consecutive time a judge has rejected a bid by U.S. antitrust enforcers to break up a major tech company. Previously, a federal judge rejected the FTC's attempt to make Meta Platforms sell Instagram and WhatsApp, and another judge rejected the DOJ's bid to force Google to sell its Chrome browser, citing competition from AI companies.