Google—Federal judge ruled Google illegally maintained monopoly in search and text advertising
On August 5, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by maintaining an illegal monopoly in general search services and general text advertising. Google held ~90% of desktop and ~95% of mobile search market share, paying partners tens of billions for exclusive default status. The DOJ case, joined by 30+ state attorneys general, found Google's exclusive dealing agreements foreclosed rivals from competing. In September 2025, remedies were imposed including data-sharing requirements and restrictions on exclusive default contracts, though Chrome divestiture was rejected.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Regulatory Capture | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -1.020 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.68)
Evidence (2 signals)
Judge imposed data-sharing and contract restrictions as Google antitrust remedies
In September 2025, Judge Mehta issued remedies requiring Google to share search index and user interaction data with qualified competitors, and restricting exclusive default contracts to one-year terms. Chrome divestiture was rejected. A technical committee was established to oversee data-sharing compliance.
DOJ prevailed in landmark antitrust case against Google
Judge Amit Mehta ruled on August 5, 2024 that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in general search services and general text advertising by entering exclusive default agreements worth tens of billions of dollars. Google held ~90% desktop and ~95% mobile search share.