Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's attempt to force Google to sell its AdX advertising exchange on a Wednesday. ^[1] A court in Virginia rejected a lawsuit seeking to force Google to sell its AdX advertising technology, marking the third time in a few years the company has avoided a mandated split of its ad business. ^[2] Judge Leonie Brinkema issued the decision under seal, accompanied by a brief order rejecting the Department of Justice's request to force the sale of Google's AdX platform. ^[3] The judge ordered Google to make proposed changes to its advertising tools so they function with those operated by its rivals, without specifying the exact changes. ^[4] The ruling allows Google to avoid a forced sale following an April 2025 finding that the company illegally monopolized two digital advertising markets. ^[5] The Justice Department had asked the court to force Google to sell its exchange and make public the auction logic used to decide which advertisements appear on websites. ^[6] In April 2025, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google holds illegal monopolies on servers that host publisher ads and ad exchanges, finding that Google unlawfully locked publishers into using its AdX. ^[7] Judge Leonie Brinkema accepted most of the parties' proposed behavioral remedies but declined to make Google sell AdX. ^[8] The justice department and a broad coalition of states sued Google in 2023 over its dominance in markets for advertising technology used by online publishers and websites. ^[9] In April 2025, Judge Brinkema found that Google had illegally tied publishers to AdX, where it collects a 20% fee. ^[10] US regulators have lost three straight attempts to break up Big Tech: a judge allowed Google to keep Chrome in September 2025, Meta kept Instagram and WhatsApp in November 2025, and now Google keeps AdX. ^[11] The Department of Justice had requested the fragmentation of Google's business following a finding of illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market. ^[12]