SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered Google to change how it runs its search business after ruling the company held an illegal monopoly. The decision aims to reduce Google’s power but avoids the harsher steps the U.S. government wanted, like banning default search deals or forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser.
The ruling, written by Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., is 226 pages long and comes nearly five years after the Justice Department first sued Google during Donald Trump’s presidency. The case was later carried forward under President Joe Biden.
Judge Mehta said he had to balance history with future changes in technology, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, which are challenging Google’s dominance.
Under the order, Google cannot sign contracts that give its search engine or related apps an exclusive spot on devices like smartphones, PCs, or smart assistants. The ruling also requires Google to share some of its closely guarded search data with competitors like DuckDuckGo and Bing, so they have a better chance of improving their own results.
However, Mehta allowed Google to keep paying billions of dollars each year to make its search engine the default on Apple’s iPhones, other smartphones, and web browsers. Those deals, worth more than $26 billion annually, were a key reason the judge found Google guilty of monopoly power in the first place. Still, he decided banning them could cause more harm than good.
The Justice Department also pushed for Google to sell its Chrome browser, but Mehta said that would be “messy and risky” and wasn’t proven to be necessary for restoring competition.
Both sides reacted quickly. The Justice Department called the decision a major victory, though it admitted it didn’t get everything it wanted. Google argued the ruling shows competition is already strong, pointing to the fast rise of AI search tools.
Some critics said the punishment was too light, comparing it to letting a bank robber go free with only a warning. Investors seemed to agree it was mild—Alphabet, Google’s parent company, saw its stock jump more than 7% after the ruling, adding nearly $200 billion in value. Apple’s stock also rose, since it makes more than $20 billion a year from its default search deal with Google.
Smaller players, like Mozilla’s Firefox browser, said losing Google contracts could threaten their survival. Apple warned that banning the deals would cut research money and might even make Google stronger if it could keep the money instead of paying partners.
Meanwhile, Google faces another major trial later this month. The Justice Department is targeting its digital advertising empire, which another federal judge has already called an illegal monopoly. That case could lead to even bigger consequences for the company.
