A federal judge on Tuesday largely sided with Google in the penalties phase of its search monopoly case, declining to order the breakup sought by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta barred Google from entering into exclusive agreements to prioritize its search engine, browser or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot after finding last year that the tech giant had maintained an illegal monopoly over online search.
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However, he did not require Google to sell its Chrome browser, as the government had requested.
In a landmark ruling last August, Mehta determined Google violated antitrust laws by entering into exclusive agreements with device manufacturers and browsers to ensure its search engine was the default.
It marked a significant win for the DOJ, as it prepared to take on several more high-profile cases against Big Tech firms, including a second against Google.
Google, for its part, has vowed to appeal the decision. But it first had to face the remedies process, which stretched out over a year, complete with another three weeks of arguments in court.
While it played a limited role in the initial case, AI came to be a central focus of the remedies phase, as the DOJ argued Google’s dominance over search gave it a leg up in the AI race and justified more forward-looking remedies like a breakup.
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Mehta’s decision marks a victory for Google after a tough year. The tech giant suffered another setback in April when a separate judge ruled it had illegally monopolized advertising technology.
The DOJ is also seeking a breakup in the ad tech case, asking the court to force Google to sell off two of its advertising products.
