A US federal judge has ruled that Google will not be forced to sell its online advertising exchange (formerly AdX), despite the company having already been found guilty of illegally abusing its market power in the ad tech antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice and a coalition of states. Judge Leonie Brinkema's decision spares Google from what would have been the most severe possible penalty, meaning the company avoids a breakup that could have disrupted its broader advertising business and set a precedent for other Big Tech antitrust battles.

The DOJ had argued that divesting the exchange, which connects ad buyers and sellers, was the only way to restore fair competition after Google was found to have locked publishers into using its platform. Although the court did not find wrongdoing regarding Google's advertiser-facing tools, the DOJ may still secure fines and mandated changes to Google's practices; the exact remedies remain sealed for 14 days to allow for redaction requests. This marks the conclusion of the third of three major US antitrust cases against Google, following the search-focused case (where Google kept Chrome but faced data-sharing and distribution requirements) and the Epic Games case over the Play Store (which led to lower fees and third-party app store access), leaving Google's overall market power largely intact.