Google Avoids Break Up, Faces New Oversight In Search Antitrust Trial

Google will not beryllium forced to break up its hunt business, but a national judge has tentatively ordered different changes to nan tech giant’s business practices to support it from further anticompetitive behavior.

U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta outlined remedies connected Tuesday that would barroom Google from entering aliases maintaining exclusive deals that necktie nan distribution of Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, aliases Gemini to different apps aliases gross arrangements. For example, Google wouldn’t beryllium capable to information Play Store licensing connected nan distribution of definite apps, aliases necktie revenue-share payments to keeping definite apps.

Google will besides person to stock definite hunt scale and user-interaction information pinch “qualified competitors” to forestall exclusionary behavior, and it must connection hunt and hunt advertisement syndication services to competitors astatine modular rates truthful they tin present value results while building their ain technology.

Mehta has not yet issued a last judgment. Instead, he ordered Google and nan Department of Justice to “meet and confer” and taxable a revised last judgement by September 10 that aligns pinch his opinion.

The behavioral remedies travel a twelvemonth aft Mehta ruled that Google acted illegally to support a monopoly successful online search. A method committee will beryllium established to thief enforce nan last judgment, which will past six years and spell into effect 60 days aft entry.

The Department of Justice, which revenge its antitrust suit against Google successful 2020, had advocated for stronger penalties. It wanted to unit Google to divest its Chrome browser and perchance Android, which resulted successful immoderate unsolicited acquisition bids, and extremity its agreements pinch Apple, Samsung, and different partners successful which nan tech elephantine paid those companies billions to make its hunt motor look arsenic nan default prime connected their devices and web browsers.

The DOJ besides called connected Judge Mehta to unit Google to stock its hunt index, user-side data, synthetic queries, and ads information pinch competitors nether privacy-protected terms.

Google, which has maintained astir a 90% marketplace stock complete nan accepted hunt marketplace for nan past decade, has based on that nan government’s proposals would stifle innovation, jeopardize personification privacy, and undercut nan company’s expertise to put successful R&D. CEO Sundar Pichai said during nan remedies proceeding successful April that forced data-sharing would enactment arsenic “de facto divestiture” for Google Search. 

Judge Mehta’s determination whitethorn besides impact nan result of a abstracted antitrust proceedings Google is presently engaged successful in narration to its advertizing exertion business. In April 2025, Judge Leonie Brinkema recovered that Google illegally monopolized ad-tech markets. The remedies proceedings is scheduled for precocious September and will attraction connected nan DOJ’s projected divestitures and different measures. 

“We’ve ne'er had a condition successful which nan Department of Justice has had 2 mostly parallel cases involving awesome elements of alleged misconduct against nan aforesaid ascendant patient pinch 2 parallel remedy processes going ahead,” William Kovacic, a world title rule professor astatine George Washington University and erstwhile Federal Trade Commission commissioner, told TechCrunch.

Kovacic added that moreover though Mehta has released his much-anticipated remedies, “there are galore acts to this play to go” successful nan shape of Google’s entreaty and imaginable escalation to nan Supreme Court. “It won’t beryllium complete until precocious 2027 aliases early 2028,” he said.

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