Google plans appeal after judge rules it broke antitrust laws in search

Google has confirmed it will appeal a US federal judge’s decision that found the tech giant illegally maintained a monopoly in online search and advertising markets. The move follows a landmark ruling by District Judge Amit Mehta, whose findings could reshape the digital economy.

In a statement shared on social media platform X, Google said: “We will wait for the Court’s opinion. And we still strongly believe the Court's original decision was wrong and look forward to our eventual appeal.”

The case, filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of states, is one of the most significant antitrust challenges in decades. The DOJ accused Google of violating Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by using exclusive agreements with companies such as Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla to secure its dominance as the default search engine across devices.

Judge Mehta’s 277-page ruling concluded that these deals, which reportedly cost Google over $26 billion in 2021, effectively blocked rival search engines like Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo from gaining traction, particularly on mobile platforms where Google controls roughly 95% of the market.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote.

During the remedies phase, which concluded on 30 May, the DOJ proposed far-reaching corrective measures. These include banning default search agreements, compelling Google to share user data with competitors, and potentially requiring the divestiture of the Chrome browser, a key access point to Google's search services.

Google has pushed back against these proposals, arguing that they go beyond the scope of the court’s findings and could undermine user privacy, innovation, and America’s technological leadership.

John Schmidtlein, a lawyer for Google, also stated that the company had ended exclusive arrangements with some smartphone manufacturers, allowing them to pre-install competing search and AI apps.

While Google cannot formally appeal until that decision is issued, legal experts anticipate a prolonged process that may eventually reach the US Supreme Court.

The ruling echoes earlier landmark antitrust actions against major tech firms, drawing comparisons to cases involving Microsoft and AT&T.