Google escapes forced sale of Chrome in antitrust ruling
Google will not be required to sell its Chrome browser, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday, in a closely watched case over the company’s search monopoly, reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
Judge Amit Mehta, who last year found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws, barred the tech giant from exclusive distribution deals and ordered it to share search data with competitors. However, he rejected calls from prosecutors to break up Google’s business.
“Prosecutors overreached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets,” Mehta wrote in his 230-page ruling.
The decision represents a softer outcome than federal demands to force Google out of the browser market for five years. Still, Google is prohibited from entering exclusive contracts for Chrome, Google Assistant and its Gemini app, though payments to distributors remain allowed.
Google shares rose in after-hours trading following the ruling, signaling investor confidence. Critics, however, denounced the decision.
“You don’t find someone guilty of robbing a bank and then sentence him to writing a thank you note for the loot,” said Nidhi Hegde, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Similarly, you don’t find Google liable for monopolization and then write a remedy that lets it protect its monopoly.”
Prosecutors argued Google spent billions to secure default placement on devices, helping it capture nearly 90 percent of the U.S. search market. Mehta noted that remedies must also address emerging AI-driven search tools, stating: “These proceedings have been as much about promoting competition among GSEs as ensuring that Google’s dominance in search does not carry over into the GenAI space.”
Earlier, reports indicated that a study conducted by Google Cloud and The Harris Poll found that 97% of game developers believe generative AI is already transforming the gaming industry.
