On Tuesday, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division won significant remedies in its monopolisation case against Google in online search.
In United States et al. v. Google, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia prohibited Google from entering or maintaining exclusive contracts relating to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app; ordered Google to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to rivals and potential rivals; and ordered Google to offer search and search text ads syndication services to enable rivals and potential rivals to compete.
The court’s ruling recognises the need for remedies that will pry open the market for general search services, which have been frozen in place for over a decade. The ruling also recognises the need to prevent Google from using the same anticompetitive tactics for its GenAI products as it used to monopolise the search market, and the remedies will reach GenAI technologies and companies.
“This decision marks an important step forward in the Department of Justice’s ongoing fight to protect American consumers. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue our legal efforts to hold companies accountable for monopolistic practices,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“The first Trump administration sued Google to restore competition for millions of Americans subjected to Google’s monopoly abuses. Today, the second Trump administration has won a remedy to do just that,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We will continue to review the opinion to consider the Department’s options and next steps regarding seeking additional relief.”
Filed during President Donald Trump’s first term, the Justice Department’s case against the Google search monopoly “has unified the country”, said the agency. Eleven state attorneys general joined the original filing in October 2020. Additional states filed a related action as the case progressed, and ultimately, the United States was joined in pursuing the remedies ordered today by 49 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia.
Under the remedies ordered on Tuesday, Google will be barred from entering or maintaining exclusive contracts relating to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app.
Google cannot enter or maintain agreements that (1) condition the licensing of any Google application on the distribution, preloading, or placement of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or the Gemini app anywhere on a device; (2) condition the receipt of revenue share payments for the placement of one Google application on the placement of another Google application; or (3) condition the receipt of revenue share payments on maintaining Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or the Gemini app on any device, browser, or search access point for more than one year; or (4) prohibit any partner from simultaneously distributing any other GSE, browser, or GenAI product.
In addition, Google will have to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to certain competitors. Google will also be required to offer certain competitors search and search text ads syndication services, which will open up the market by enabling rivals and potential rivals to deliver high-quality search results and ads and compete with Google as they develop their own capacity.
For years, Google accounted for approximately 90 per cent of all search queries in the United States, and Google “used anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in search and search advertising”.
Google entered into a series of exclusionary agreements that collectively locked up the primary avenues through which users access online search, requiring that Google be the preset default general search engine on billions of mobile devices and computers and, in many cases, prohibiting preinstallation of a competitor, according to a statement by the Justice Department.
“Using its monopoly profits, Google bought preferential treatment for its search engine and created a self-reinforcing cycle of monopolisation — shutting out potential competitors, reducing innovation, and taking choice away from American consumers,” the statement said.
The Department of Justice and the states proved that Google broke the law over the course of a bench trial that started in September 2023 and lasted nine weeks. In August 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia released a 277-page opinion, concluding that “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
The Tuesday verdict follows a 15-day remedies trial in May 2025.
