Google will not be forced to divest its Chrome browser or Android operating system, but must share search data with competitors, a US district judge has ruled, in a decision that brought relief to Google investors and drove a sharp rise in shares in its parent company Alphabet.
Under the ruling, which comes after Google was found in August 2024 to have an illegal monopoly in search, the search and advertising giant will also be able to keep making large payments to distributors such as Apple and Samsung, but only for default placement of its search app on their platforms.
That means such distributors will continue to benefit from deals with Google under which they receive a share of its search revenues, but will also be able to offer competing search engines.
Distribution deals
Under previous exclusive deals, the companies were only able to offer Google’s search app.
The ruling also prohibits exclusive deals for Google’s Chrome browser app, Google Assistant or the Gemini AI app.
Morgan Stanley analysts estimated last year that Google pays $20 billion (£15bn) a year to Apple alone under such arrangements.
The company has similar deals with handset makers Samsung and Motorola and wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon.
Judge Amit Mehta said rising competition from artificial intelligence tools, which has taken form since the case began, was key to his decision.
Banning deals with distributors is unnecessary in a market where AI apps such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT “pose a threat to the primacy of traditional internet search”, Mehta wrote in the ruling.
The US Justice Department, which brought the case against Google in 2020, had lobbied for Chrome to be sold off as a structural remedy.
‘Competition is intense’
Assistant attorney general Abigail Slater wrote on social media that the agency was weighing its options and considering whether the ordered relief goes far enough in serving the goal of restoring competition in the “long-monopolised search market”.
Google said the ruling backed its argument that “competition is intense and people can easily choose the services they want”.
The company had proposed lesser remedies, such as limiting its revenue-sharing deals with distributors, and has said it will appeal.
The case is likely to go to the Supreme Court, meaning it could be years before Google is required to take any action.
The firm said it is concerned data sharing “will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely”.
Industry-watchers noted that the ruling was a win for technology companies.
Apple, for instance, benefits because “the ruling forces Google to renegotiate the search deal annually”, wrote Deepwater Asset Management analyst Gene Munster on social media.
‘Consumers will suffer’
Google competitor DuckDuckGo said the order failed to “force the changes necessary to address Google’s illegal behaviour”.
“As a result, consumers will continue to suffer,” said the company’s founder and chief executive Gabriel Weinberg.
Google faces a separate remedies trial later this month after it was found in April to have an illegal monopoly in advertising technology.
It is also fighting a ruling requiring it to change its Android app store rules in a lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games.
The search and adtech cases are part of a broader push by US regulators in recent years that has also targeted Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple.
