U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Tuesday barred Google from entering into exclusive agreements to prioritize its search engine, browser or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot after finding last year that the tech giant had maintained an illegal monopoly over online search.
However, Mehta did not require Google to sell its Chrome browser, as the government had requested.
“The Chrome default undoubtedly contributes to Google’s dominance in general search,” Mehta wrote. However, he added, “the complete divestiture of Chrome is a poor fit for this case.”
The judge found that the Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to show its other proposed remedies would be ineffective without forcing Google to sell Chrome and went beyond the conduct it sought to address. He also suggested a breakup would be “incredibly messy and highly risky.”
Mehta did side with the government on some provisions, requiring Google to make certain search index and user interaction data and search syndication services available to competitors.
In a landmark ruling last August, Mehta determined Google violated antitrust laws by entering into exclusive agreements with device manufacturers and browsers to ensure its search engine was the default.
It marked a significant win for the DOJ, as it prepared to take on several more high-profile cases against Big Tech firms, including a second against Google.
Google, for its part, has vowed to appeal the decision. But it first had to face the remedies process, which stretched out over a year, complete with another three weeks of arguments in court.
While it played a limited role in the initial case, AI came to be a central focus of the remedies phase, as the DOJ argued Google’s dominance over search gave it a leg up in the AI race and justified more forward-looking remedies like a breakup.
Check out the full report at TheHill.com.
