Google defeats Rumble's antitrust lawsuit over video sharing market
By Mike Scarcella
Alphabet's
Google
has persuaded a federal judge in California to reject a lawsuit from video platform Rumble accusing the technology giant of illegally monopolizing the
online video-sharing market
.
In a ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr said Rumble's 2021 lawsuit seeking more than $2 billion in damages was untimely filed outside the four-year statute of limitations for antitrust claims.
Rumble accused Google of violating antitrust law by rigging user searches to give preference to Google's YouTube platform over Rumble. The lawsuit also accused Google of scheming with device makers to bar Rumble from being preinstalled on some Android phones.
Google had no immediate comment, and Rumble did not immediately respond to a request for one.
At the heart of its case, Rumble said there was "considerable direct evidence" that Google illegally was "self-referencing" its YouTube platform in web searches. Rumble claimed it lost out on billions of video views on its platform. Google has denied Rumble's claims and had urged Gilliam to end the case before trial, which was set for July.
Gilliam said Rumble failed to present evidence allowing a jury to find and apply an exception to the statute of limitations. The judge criticized Rumble for presenting "bare attorney argument lacking any evidentiary support."
Rumble, founded in 2013, had an average of 59 million global monthly active users in the first quarter of 2025, the company said this month.
The platform had recently expanded its trial team to include prominent litigator David Boies of law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.
Rumble separately is suing Google over its digital advertising practices. The lawsuit, filed last year in California, accused the company of anticompetitive conduct relating to online advertising.
Google has called Rumble's claims in that case "simply wrong" and said Rumble uses "dozens" of competing ad services in addition to Google's ad manager.
Google faces other antitrust allegations by the U.S. government and groups of states that are challenging the company's dominance in digital advertising and search markets. Google has denied the allegations in those cases.
The case is Rumble v. Google, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 4:21-cv-00229.
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