Google Escapes Forced Divestment of AdX Exchange

A federal judge has rejected a request to force Google to divest its AdX ad exchange, ruling that while Google did monopolize key components of the market for serving ads on outside publishers' sites, other antitrust remedies will be ordered.

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia made this decision after a three-week trial, which concluded over one year ago that Google had harmed consumers and publishers by its actions.

The initial complaint was filed by the Department of Justice and a coalition of states in January 2023, alleging that Google 'corrupted legitimate competition' in the ad tech industry by monopolizing markets connected to 'open web display advertising.'