A US federal judge has ordered sweeping changes to Google’s search engine operations as part of a landmark antitrust case, but rejected the government’s request to break up the company.
The 226-page ruling, issued on Tuesday evening by Judge Amit Mehta in Washington DC, is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the tech industry at a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping the digital landscape.
New conversational AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity are increasingly challenging Google’s dominant role as the internet’s primary gateway.
Judge Mehta imposed new restrictions on Google’s business practices, particularly methods the company has used to steer traffic toward its own search engine and related services.
However, he stopped short of banning Google’s multi-billion-dollar agreements that ensure its search engine remains the default option on smartphones, computers, and other devices. These deals, valued at over 26 billion dollars annually, were at the heart of the US Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit launched five years ago.
The judge also rejected the government’s demand that Google be forced to sell its Chrome browser, describing the request as excessive.
Nonetheless, Google has been ordered to provide rivals with access to parts of its closely guarded search data, the vast troves of information collected from trillions of queries that underpin the quality and accuracy of its search results.
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