Judge: Google can keep Chrome, must share search data with “qualified competitors”

This service will be available for five years instead of the ten years the DOJ wanted. Google will only have to provide organic results and can impose normal commercial usage restrictions, like prohibiting scraping or indexing of the results. In addition, the court has decided that companies syndicating Google’s search results can only use Google’s results for 40 percent of their queries for the first year. That cap may go down over time, pushing companies to innovate rather than simply mirroring Google.

While DuckDuckGo isn’t happy with the more limited data sharing, Kagi founder Vladimir Prelovac is more optimistic. He praised the judge for ignoring the “meaningless remedies” like selling Chrome. He calls the move to open up Google’s index and search data “directionally correct.”

Google is naturally unhappy with this part of the ruling. “We have concerns about how these requirements will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely,” said Google’s Lee-Anne Mulholland.

What comes next?

While this ruling is a pretty clear win for Google, it still technically lost the case. Google probably isn’t going to just accept the “monopolist” label, though. The company previously said it planned to appeal the case, and now it has that option.

The court’s remedies are supposed to be enforced by a technical committee, which will oversee the company’s operations for six years. The order says that the group must be set up within 60 days. However, Google will most likely ask to pause the order while it pursues an appeal. It did something similar with the Google Play case brought by Epic Games, but it just lost that appeal.

With the high likelihood of an appeal, it’s possible Google won’t have to make any changes for years—if ever. If the company chooses, it could take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. If a higher court overturns the verdict, Google could go back to business as usual, avoiding even the narrow remedies chosen by Mehta.

This story was updated on September 3 with additional comments and details on the ruling.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/google-wont-have-to-sell-chrome-judge-rules/