Federal judge declines to force Google to sell AdX despite finding illegal monopoly

A federal judge declined to force Google to divest AdX, the publisher advertising exchange the company was found to have unlawfully tied to its ad server, though the court's underlying monopoly ruling stands intact. Instead of divestiture, the judge adopted behavioral remedies proposed by both the DOJ and Google to address the antitrust violation. Google argued that forced sale would be technically difficult and ultimately harmful, while the DOJ and states contended the divestiture was necessary to restore competition in the publisher ad tech market, as Search Engine Land reports.