Google antitrust case ruling: Judge orders to share search data, rejects Chrome breakup demand

A U.S. federal judge has ordered Google to overhaul parts of its search engine business in a landmark antitrust case but declined to break up the company.

The 226-page ruling, issued Tuesday by District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., is expected to have wide implications for the technology sector at a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping the industry.

Companies like ChatGPT and Perplexity are emerging as potential challengers to Google’s long-dominant role as the internet’s main gateway.

Judge Mehta ruled that Google must provide rivals — both current and potential — with access to data gathered from trillions of search queries, which has long been key to improving the accuracy of its search results. The order is aimed at curbing what the court found to be the company’s illegal monopoly.

At the same time, the court stopped short of banning Google’s long-standing default search engine deals. The company pays more than $26 billion annually to remain the preset search option on smartphones, personal computers, and other devices. These arrangements were central to the Justice Department’s nearly five-year-old case.

The judge also rejected the government’s demand that Google sell off its widely used Chrome browser, calling such a remedy “a bridge too far.”

Instead, Judge Mehta has opted for restrictions on tactics Google uses to maintain traffic to its services, while preserving some of its multi-billion dollar business agreements.