U.S. Court Orders Google to Share Search Data but Stops Short of Forcing Chrome Sale in Antitrust Case

In a significant decision aimed at restoring fair competition in the search engine market, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has ordered Google to end exclusive deals that make it the default search engine on phones and other devices. However, the tech giant will not be barred from paying device makers to preload its products, including Google Search and its generative AI products.

The judge’s ruling follows a 2024 decision in favor of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had accused Google of maintaining an illegal monopoly through exclusive agreements with device manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. The “remedies” phase of the trial began this April, with both sides arguing over the appropriate penalties for Google’s monopolistic practices.

The DOJ urged the company to share some of its search data and establish a technological oversight committee to monitor compliance with the ordered measures for six years. Google agreed to roll back its exclusive search engine contracts but objected to several other proposed remedies, particularly the sale of its browser Chrome and its open-source Chromium project, and the prospect of sharing its search data.

In his ruling, Mehta wrote that the court’s task is to distinguish between conduct that maintains a monopoly through anticompetitive acts as opposed to ‘growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident.’ He declined to order the sell-off of Chrome, citing it as a key search access point for Google with nearly 40% of Google’s U.S. search volume generated through Chrome.

The judge’s decision marks a significant antitrust ruling in a case against a tech company in more than 25 years and is a disappointment for Google’s competitors, who had expressed interest in purchasing Chrome. The case establishes precedent for how the government could pursue tech companies, including Google in this search engine case, with the DOJ modeling its complaint against Google and proposed remedies after the Microsoft case of 1998.

One of the DOJ’s biggest proposed changes would be forcing Google to share its search data with third parties. In his ruling, Mehta ordered the sharing of some kind of data but not all of it. By forcing Google to license its valuable search technology and data, smaller competitors could then build their own search engines to compete with Google. AI developers can use this information to help train large language models, improving chatbots’ ability to generate human-like responses and engage in conversations.

The case is ongoing, with Google maintaining it will appeal both the remedies and Mehta’s previous finding that the tech company violated federal antitrust laws with its search engine dominance. NPR will continue to update this developing story.