Highlights:
- Google plans to appeal a federal antitrust ruling addressing its dominance in online search and advertising.
- The U.S. Justice Department and several states propose strict remedies, including breaking up parts of Google’s ad business and restricting exclusivity deals.
- Regulators are concerned that Google’s dominance in search fuels its advantage in AI.
- Google argues the proposed remedies favor competitors, not consumers, and that it has already taken steps to improve market fairness.
- A final decision by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is expected by August.
Alphabet’s Google announced Saturday that it intends to challenge a federal antitrust decision targeting its dominance in online search and advertising markets. The move follows closing arguments Friday in a high-profile trial overseen by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington.
Judge Mehta is considering remedies to counter Google’s monopoly, with proposals from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of states that include a potential breakup of Google’s advertising technology operations.
According to Reuters, these proposals would force the tech giant to divest Google Ad Manager and prohibit multibillion-dollar payments to device makers like Apple that ensure Google remains the default search engine.
“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,” Google wrote in a post on X, cited by The Verge and CNN Business.
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A Battle Over Market Power and AI Advantage
Regulators argue that Google’s search monopoly provides it with an unfair advantage in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, particularly its AI product Gemini. The DOJ also wants the company to share valuable search data with rivals and stop enforcing exclusivity agreements with phone makers.
In contrast, Google maintains that the proposed measures benefit well-funded competitors like Microsoft’s Bing more than consumers. “While we heard a lot about how the remedies would help various well-funded competitors… we heard very little about how all this helps consumers,” the company stated.
Google attorney John Schmidtlein told the court the company has already addressed some competitive concerns by ending exclusive arrangements with manufacturers like Samsung, allowing them to pre-load rival search and AI services.
Awaiting a Landmark Decision
The trial marks a turning point in digital market regulation. If the DOJ’s proposals are upheld, they could reshape not just Google’s business model but the broader digital advertising and search ecosystem. Judge Mehta’s decision is expected by August.
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