Google does not must promote Chrome, decide in monopoly case guidelines

Google won’t must divest its Chrome browser however must change a few of its enterprise practices, a federal decide has dominated. The ruling comes greater than a 12 months after the identical decide dominated that Google had acted illegally to keep up a monopoly in web search.

Following the ruling final 12 months, the Division of Justice had proposed that Google must be compelled to promote Chrome. However in a 230-page decision, Decide Amit Mehta stated the federal government had “overreached” in its request. “Google won’t be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court docket embody a contingent divestiture of the Android working system within the closing judgment,” Mehta wrote. “Plaintiffs overreached in searching for compelled divesture of those key belongings, which Google didn’t use to impact any unlawful restraints.”

Google will, nonetheless, now not be permitted to strike unique offers across the distribution of search, Google Assistant, Gemini or Chrome, Mehta dominated. For instance, Google cannot require machine makers to pre-load its apps so as to get entry to the Play Retailer. It can also’t situation revenue-sharing preparations on the position of its apps. However Google will be capable to proceed to pay companions — like Apple — for pre-loading search and different apps into their merchandise. Mehta stated that ending these preparations might trigger “downstream harms to distribution companions, associated markets, and shoppers.”

Mehta additionally dominated that Google might want to share a few of its search knowledge with rivals going ahead. “Making knowledge obtainable to rivals would chop the dimensions hole created by Google’s unique distribution agreements and, in flip, the standard hole that adopted,” he wrote. The corporate isn’t required at hand over knowledge associated to its advertisements.

Mehta’s ruling is essentially a win for the search big, which had argued that divesting Chrome or Android “would hurt People and America’s international expertise management.” In a statement Tuesday, Google stated it had “issues” about some elements of the ruling.

“Right now’s choice acknowledges how a lot the trade has modified via the appearance of AI, which is giving individuals so many extra methods to search out data,” the corporate stated. “Now the Court docket has imposed limits on how we distribute Google providers, and would require us to share Search knowledge with rivals. We’ve got issues about how these necessities will impression our customers and their privateness, and we’re reviewing the choice intently.”

The corporate beforehand indicated it plans to appeal Mehta’s authentic choice, however stated in June it could anticipate a closing choice within the case.

Replace, September 2, 2025, 4:28PM PT: This publish has been up to date so as to add an announcement from Google on the ruling.