US Judge Rejects Breakup of Google Ad Business, Imposes New Rules
A US judge has rejected the government's bid to break up Google's digital advertising business. Judge Leonie Brinkema of the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, declined to force Google to sell its ad auction site AdX and instead opted for a set of rules governing how the company must operate in the ad market.
The decision is the second time this year that a federal judge has refused to dismantle a piece of Google's business. In 2025, another judge refused to force the sale of Google's Chrome browser in a separate monopoly case over online search.
The government had argued that Google's control of multiple sides of the digital advertising marketplace, including the platform used by publishers and the exchange where transactions occur, was anticompetitive. Prosecutors sought the sale of AdX and the open-sourcing of critical auction technology.
Google had characterized the proposed remedies as extreme government overreach that would harm publishers, advertisers, and consumers. The company argued that splitting up the service would be technically unfeasible.