A federal judge ruled that Google can continue paying Apple and other partners to feature its search engine, even as the company faces restrictions under an ongoing antitrust case with the U.S. Department of Justice. The decision spares Google from one of the government’s toughest proposed remedies: forcing the divestiture of Chrome or the Android operating system.
Judge Amit Mehta said Google cannot enter into exclusive search distribution contracts but is allowed to make payments to partners like Apple to remain a default search option. Apple currently earns about $20 billion annually from Google for its placement on iPhones and Macs. The judge warned that cutting off such payments would cause “substantial, in some cases crippling, downstream harms” to partners and consumers.
Data Sharing and Market Access
While Google avoided a breakup, it will need to share certain search data with rivals. Competitors including Microsoft’s Bing, DuckDuckGo, and AI-driven services like OpenAI and Perplexity are expected to benefit. The Justice Department argued that access to this data will help new and smaller search engines build viable alternatives.
The ruling also requires Apple to make minor adjustments, such as promoting alternative search engines more clearly and updating its default settings annually. Users must also be able to select a different default for private browsing modes, a feature Apple has already implemented.
According to Bloomberg, the court’s decision reflects a compromise between maintaining competition and avoiding market disruption. The Justice Department had pressed for stronger measures, including a ban on default search payments and the sale of Chrome, but the judge found those proposals excessive.
Alphabet shares surged nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading following the ruling, while Apple shares rose over 4 percent. The decision preserves a lucrative revenue stream for Apple’s services segment, which regulators worldwide are already scrutinizing.
As reported by Bloomberg, the case against Google began in the final months of the Trump administration and marked the Justice Department’s most aggressive antitrust action in decades. Mehta’s ruling is expected to influence future cases against other tech giants, including Amazon, Apple, and Meta.
Google is appealing the ruling, focusing on the requirement to share search data with competitors. The company argues that the order risks undermining user privacy and its ability to innovate.
