Google files to appeal search monopoly case
Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a press conference following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Google for Startups Campus in Warsaw, Poland, on February 13, 2025.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurfoto | Getty Images
Google It filed on Friday to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the company had an illegal monopoly in the main internet search market.
The appeal could delay remedies against the Alphabet-owned company while the legal process continues.
The 2024 ruling “ignores the fact that people use Google because they want to, not because they have to,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, wrote in an op-ed Friday. blog.
“The decision failed to take into account the rapid pace of innovation and intense competition from established players and well-funded start-ups,” he wrote.
The antitrust case began in September 2023, and in August 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act and had a monopoly on search and related advertising. At the time, Google said it would likely appeal the decision.
Last spring, the company and the Department of Justice participated in a settlement trial to determine the consequences Google would impose. Witnesses also took part in the hearing Apple and competitors from Mozilla as well as OpenAI and other companies. In September 2025, Mehta ruled against the harshest consequences recommended by the Justice Department, including the forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser. The decision was seen as a win for Google, with its shares rising 8% following the news.
Mehta completed the remedies in December. Mehta stipulated that Google must share some of the raw search interaction data it uses to train its ranking and AI systems, but spared the company from having to share its actual algorithms. Mehta also wrote that Google cannot enter into any agreement, such as the search agreement the company has with Apple, “unless the agreement is terminated more than one year from the date it was entered.”
At the time, analysts likened the milder-than-expected treatments to a slap on the wrist.
Mulholland wrote Friday that Google has requested that enforcement of the remedies be halted.
“These mandates would put Americans’ privacy at risk and deter competitors from producing their own products,” Mulholland wrote. “Ultimately, we are stifling the innovation that keeps the United States at the forefront of global technology.”
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