Alphabet Inc.’s Google announced on Saturday, May 31, 2025, its intention to appeal a recent US federal court ruling that proposed remedies to address its alleged monopoly in online search and related advertising markets.
US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington heard closing arguments on Friday during the trial focused on potential measures to tackle Google’s purported illegal dominance in these areas.
Google shared an X post stating it will await the court’s decision. Still, the search engine company firmly believes that the court’s initial ruling was incorrect, and it has demonstrated its eagerness for upcoming appeals.
Google’s antitrust case gets more complex with each round
In April, a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws in two online advertising technology markets in the US.
During the trial, US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington heard final arguments addressing how to address the tech firm’s illegal monopoly in online search and advertising.
The Department of Justice argued that the company should be required to sell at least its Google Ad Manager, including its publisher ad server and exchange.
Additionally, the DOJ and a coalition of states demanded that Google share search data and stop its multibillion-dollar deals with Apple and other smartphone makers that secure its position as the default search engine on new devices.
John Schmidtlein, a lawyer for Google, tried to defend the company. He explained that even though generative AI is changing how search works, the tech firm has tackled competition issues in AI.
Schmidtlein stated that the company has stopped making exclusive deals with wireless carriers and smartphone manufacturers, such as Samsung Electronics. According to him, this change allows these companies to install competing search and AI apps on their new devices.
However, despite these assurances, antitrust regulators remain concerned that Google’s dominance over search results gives it a competitive advantage in AI products such as Gemini — and that this influence works both ways.
Judge Mehta shifts his attention to artificial intelligence
Last year, Judge Mehta found that Google broke antitrust laws to maintain its monopoly in search and shifted his attention to artificial intelligence, which many technological stakeholders believe will upend search.
Since AI products are already transforming the tech industry, the judge mentioned he was struggling with whether these proposals might encourage a new competitor to step up and create a general search engine.
He then asked the government if it thinks there is a chance for a new search engine to emerge like the ones they have today. The government responded that AI products are linked to the future of searching online.
Following this, analysts anticipate that Judge Mehta’s ruling might reshape a company synonymous with online search at a time of tremendous power in the business community. Google is fighting with other tech companies, like Microsoft, Meta, and the start-up OpenAI, to get consumers to use generative AI tools that can spit out humanlike responses to queries.
However, Judge Mehta’s decision might hinder Google’s attempts to create its own AI and could give an advantage to its rivals as they compete to develop their own AI-driven search tools.
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