Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - Google has won a major reprieve in its long-running antitrust battle with the U.S. government, after a federal judge rejected demands that it divest its Chrome web browser. However, the court imposed sweeping remedies aimed at curbing Google’s dominance in online search and preventing future monopolistic practices.
Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling comes nearly a year after he found
that Google illegally maintained its search monopoly through
multibillion-dollar distribution agreements with Apple, Samsung, and other
device makers that ensured Google remained the default search engine on their
devices.
The Justice Department had argued that Chrome—used by
billions worldwide and powering roughly one-third of Google searches—was
central to the company’s market dominance and should be spun off. But Mehta
said such a move would be “incredibly messy and highly risky,” calling the
government’s demand an overreach.
Instead, the judge ordered Google to:
1. Share its search index data and certain user interaction
information with qualified competitors to level the playing field.
2. Stop using exclusive contracts to dominate emerging generative AI search technologies, in the same way it cornered the traditional search market.
3. Submit
to oversight from a technical committee that will monitor compliance with the
remedies, effective within 60 days.
The decision is one of the most significant antitrust rulings
in decades. While it falls short of the breakup many critics had hoped for,
analysts say it could reshape Google’s business practices and influence the
future of AI-driven search.
Google vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne
Mulholland said the ruling reflected how AI is transforming the search
industry.
“Today’s decision recognizes how much the industry has
changed through the advent of AI, which is giving people so many more ways to
find information. Competition is intense, and people can easily choose the
services they want.”
However, she warned that the court’s remedies—particularly
requirements to share data—raise “serious concerns” about user privacy.
The Justice Department described the measures as
“significant,” but said it was still reviewing the ruling and weighing whether
to seek additional relief.
The case is part of a broader offensive against Big Tech.
Google is simultaneously facing another antitrust lawsuit in Virginia targeting
its ad tech business, which a different judge has already ruled to be an
illegal monopoly. Meanwhile, Meta, Apple, and Amazon are all fighting federal
cases of their own.
The original search monopoly case
against Google was filed in 2020 under the Trump administration and carried
forward by the Biden administration as part of a bipartisan push to rein in the
power of Silicon Valley giants.
Investors reacted swiftly to Tuesday’s
decision: Alphabet shares surged 7.5% in after-hours trading, while Apple rose
more than 3%. Analysts at Wedbush Securities called the ruling “a home run” for
Google and “a monster win” for Apple, which relies heavily on Google’s payments
for default search placement on iPhones.
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