Judge Hears Final Arguments on How to Fix Google's Search Monopoly

New York Times

a day ago

Judge Amit P. Mehta has some tough decisions to make about Google.
That much was clear on Friday as the federal judge, who sits on the U.S. District Court in Washington, peppered lawyers for the Justice Department and the tech company with questions during closing arguments over about how best to fix the company's search monopoly. The conclusion of the three-week hearing means the decision will now be in the hands of the judge, who is expected to issue a ruling by August.
The government has asked the court to force Google to sell Chrome, its popular web browser, and share the data behind its search results with rivals. The company has countered with a far narrower proposal.
Judge Mehta, who ruled last year that the company had broken antitrust laws to maintain its dominance in search, quickly turned his attention Friday to artificial intelligence, which many tech experts expect to upend search. Given that A.I. products are already changing the tech industry, the judge said he was grappling with questions about whether the proposals could lead a new challenger to 'come off the sidelines and build a general search engine.'
'Does the government believe that there is a market for a new search engine to emerge' as we think of one today, he asked. The government argued that A.I. products were connected to the future of search.
Judge Mehta's ruling could reshape a company synonymous with online search at a pivotal moment. Google is in a fierce race with other tech companies, including Microsoft, Meta and the startup OpenAI, to convince consumers to use generative A.I. tools that can spit out humanlike answers to questions. Judge Mehta's ruling could directly hamper Google's efforts to develop its own A.I. or offer a leg up to its competitors as they race to build their own new versions of A.I.-powered search.
In addition, Judge Mehta's decision will signal whether the government's recent push to rein in the biggest tech companies through a series of antitrust lawsuits can result in significant changes to the way they do business.
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