Google disagrees with a court ruling that recognizes it as a monopoly in the search engine market and is already preparing to appeal. The company claims that the measures proposed by the US government will harm not only it, but also its users.
Google disagrees with a court ruling that recognizes it as a monopoly in the search engine market and is already preparing to appeal. The company claims that the measures proposed by the US government will harm not only it, but also its users.
Google plans to appeal a US federal court ruling that found its dominance in the search market illegal, Engadget reported, citing a post on the platform’s social network X. The tech giant stressed that it believes the judge’s verdict is wrong and «harms consumers.»
6/ We will wait for the Court’s opinion. And we still strongly believe the Court’s original decision was wrong, and look forward to our eventual appeal.
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) May 31, 2025
The case against Google was initiated by the US Department of Justice back in 2020. The main focus of the accusation is that the company abuses its advantage by entering into exclusive agreements with smartphone and browser manufacturers (in particular Apple and Samsung) to set Google as the default search engine. In August 2024, District Court Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia found that this practice is a violation of antitrust laws.
Possible sanctions include forcing Google Search technologies to be opened up for licensing, banning partner agreements, and even selling the Chrome browser and its related open-source Chromium project.
Google, in turn, has proposed a compromise: to soften existing agreements with device manufacturers and create an independent oversight body to monitor the search engine’s activities. The company argues that the government’s proposals pose risks to user privacy and could put the state at the center of personal data management, as well as give an advantage to «well-funded competitors.»
The decision could have far-reaching implications for the future of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly integrated with search engines. If Google loses control of Chrome, new players with AI solutions could enter the market. During the hearing, OpenAI representative Nick Turley confirmed that the company is potentially interested in buying Chrome. The decision in this case could radically change the landscape of online search and push Google’s dominance for the first time in two decades.
We previously wrote about how Google quietly released an app that allows users to run a number of openly available AI models from the Hugging Face AI development platform on their phones.
