Google appeals landmark antitrust verdict over search monopoly
The company is requesting a pause on implementing a series of fixes - viewed by some observers as too lenient - aimed at limiting its monopoly power.
In its announcement on Friday, Google said the ruling by Judge Amit Mehta didn't account for the pace of innovation and intense competition the company faces.
"As we have long said, the Court's August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they're forced to," Google's vice president for regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said.
Google has appealed a US district judge's landmark antitrust ruling that found the company illegally held a monopoly in online search.
Judge Mehta acknowledged the rapid changes to the Google's business when he issued his remedies in September, writing that the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) had changed the course of the case.
He refused to grant government lawyers their request for a Google breakup that would include a spin-off of Chrome, the world's most popular browser.
Instead, he pushed less rigorous remedies, including a requirement that Google share certain data with "qualified competitors" as deemed by the court.
That data was due to include portions of its search index, Google's massive inventory of web content that functions like a map of the internet.
The judge also called for Google to allow certain competitors to display the tech giant's search results as their own in a bid to give upstarts the time and resources they need to innovate.
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