Google appeals court ruling on search practices

Google announced Saturday that it will appeal a ruling against it for anti-competitive practices in online search, following a day in which it urged a US judge to reject calls to spin off its Chrome browser.

"We will wait for the Court's opinion. And we still strongly believe the Court's original decision was wrong, and look forward to our eventual appeal," the tech giant wrote on X.

In summer 2024, a federal judge in Washington found Google guilty of illegal practices to establish and maintain its monopoly in online search.

The Justice Department is now seeking remedies that could reshape the digital market. These include forcing Google to divest from its Chrome browser and banning exclusivity agreements with smartphone makers to install Google’s search engine by default.

The department also wants Google to share the data used to produce search results on Chrome.

On Saturday, Google criticized the proposal, saying it "reserves the right for the government to decide who gets Google users' data. Not the Court."

"While we heard a lot about how the remedies would help various well-funded competitors (w/ repeated references to Bing), we heard very little about how all this helps consumers," Google added, referencing the Microsoft-owned search engine.

Google has instead proposed narrower measures, such as allowing phone manufacturers to pre-install its Google Play app store but not Chrome or the search engine.

The hearing on Friday, which focused on arguments, marked the end of the trial to decide Google’s penalty. The judge’s ruling is expected by August.