Daijiworld Media Network- San Francisco

San Francisco, Sep 3: In a landmark antitrust ruling, a US federal judge has ordered sweeping changes to Google’s search engine operations while rejecting the government’s demand to force the tech giant to sell its popular Chrome browser.

The 226-page judgement, delivered by District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., marks a major step in the five-year-old legal battle between the U.S. Justice Department and Google over alleged monopoly abuse. The court found that Google’s dominance in internet search had been reinforced through restrictive practices, but declined to dismantle the company.

Judge Mehta imposed new restraints aimed at curbing Google’s control over search traffic, including measures to provide rivals access to its vast repository of query data that has long powered its search algorithms. However, the ruling stopped short of blocking Google’s multibillion-dollar agreements with device makers and platforms, through which it secures its search engine as the default option. Reports suggest the company spends over $26 billion annually on such deals.

Rejecting the government’s push to split the company, the judge concluded that ordering the sale of Chrome would be an excessive step. Instead, the ruling seeks to open doors for emerging competitors at a time when artificial intelligence–powered “answer engines” such as ChatGPT and Perplexity are reshaping the digital information ecosystem.

Legal experts believe the ruling could significantly influence the future of competition in the tech sector, with enforcement agencies watching closely as Google adapts to the new restrictions.