Judge Stops Short of Making Google Sell Chrome, Forces It to Share Search Data With Competitors

"In a landmark decision in a landmark antitrust case, a federal judge in DC has ruled that in order to make restitution for its longstanding monopoly over internet search, Google will have to share some of its data and its search results to several qualified competitors. As the New York Times reports, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia finally issued a decision on remedy in the antitrust case which has been one of several to have roiled Silicon Valley in recent years."

"And Judge Mehta stopped short of forcing Google/Alphabet to break itself up or sell off its Chrome web browser or Android operating system both things that the Justice Department, while still under President Biden, pushed for in a court filing last fall. Mehta issued his ruling in the case just over a year ago, finding that "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly." But the question of what remedy would be demanded of Google remained."

""Notwithstanding [Google's] power, courts must approach the task of crafting remedies with a healthy dose of humility," Mehta said in Tuesday's decision. "This court has done so.""

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Google to share portions of its search data and search results with qualified competitors as a remedy for maintaining a long-standing monopoly over internet search. The judge declined to require a breakup of Google/Alphabet or divestitures of Chrome or Android, choices the Justice Department had sought. The ruling follows an earlier finding that Google is a monopolist that acted to preserve its monopoly. The remedy reflects restraint influenced by prior antitrust litigation involving Microsoft, and the decision is expected to be appealed and could remain tied up in courts for years.

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