Google is barred from exclusive search engine contracts but does not have to break up, judge rules in monopoly case
Google must share data with rivals to open up competition in online search, a judge in Washington ruled on Tuesday.
However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a demand from Donald Trump’s Justice Department to break up the internet giant by forcing it to sell off its Chrome browser.
It was the culmination of a landmark antitrust case that imposed sweeping measures on Google, but fell short of what the government asked for.
The decision came a year after Judge Mehta found that Google illegally operated monopolies in online search and related advertising by holding exclusive distribution agreements with smartphone makers worth billions of dollars a year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai had claimed that data-sharing measures sought by the Justice Department could allow the tech giant’s rivals to reverse-engineer its technology.
The company has already said it will appeal. That means it could be years before Google has to comply with the judge’s ruling.
In a 230-page decision the judge also said Google would not have to sell off its Android operating system.
He wrote: ‘Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment.
‘Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.’
Trump’s Justice Department, headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, had argued that the Chrome browser is a key gateway to the internet and facilitates a third of all Google web searches.
But the judge said forcing a sale of it would be ‘incredibly messy.’
The Justice Department had also argued that Google should be ordered to stop ‘compelled syndication.’
That process sees it make agreements for its search engine to be the default one used in browsers and smartphones.
It paid $26 billion to companies including Apple and Mozilla for such deals in 2021, and is expected to be allowed to continue.
Following the ruling, shares in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, jumped 8 percent.
Shares in Apple also immediately rose 4 percent.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, will not see his company broken up following a landmark antitrust ruling
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, head of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, which had argued Google should be forced to sell off its Chrome browser
Despite Judge Mehta’s finding last year that Google illegally maintained monopolies in online search through its exclusive agreements with Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and others, he decided banning the deals could have too serious an impact on other businesses.
He wrote: ‘Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial, in some cases crippling, downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers.’
Instead, he ordered Google to hand over search index data and user interaction information that rivals can use to improve their services.
Google must also offer syndication of search results to competitors.
Google shares rose after the ruling which did not require it to sell Chrome
It was one of the most significant rulings against corporate monopoly practices in two decades.
However, overall, it was seen by experts as largely in favor of Google and fell short of expectations from some observers that there would be more radical changes.
Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond Law School in Virginia, said: ‘It sounds like the judge felt that it was too draconian to provide some of the remedies that prosecutors or the Department of Justice wanted.
‘Google is certainly not going to be broken up, and it’s not clear that its business model is going to change a whole lot.’
Gene Munster, managing partner, at Deepwater Asset Management, said: ‘The regulator’s bark is bigger than the bite.’
In April, Google lost a separate antitrust case over digital advertising.
A judge in Virginia ruled the tech giant illegally built ‘monopoly power’ in a victory for online news publishers.
That case was also brought by the U.S. Justice Department, and the Daily Mail’s Chief Digital Officer Matthew Wheatland was a key witness.
Bondi called that a ‘landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolizing the digital public square.’
She added: ‘Google is a monopolist and has abused its monopoly power.’
Judge Amit Mehta delivered a 230-page ruling in the case
The Google cases are part of a wider government offensive against alleged monopolistic practices by technology giants.
It has support from both Republicans and Democrats, and involves cases launched under both President Trump and President Joe Biden.
There are currently five pending antitrust cases brought by the U.S. government against major technology companies.
