'Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,' Judge Amit Mehta wrote in early August in a landmark ruling. The Department of Justice won the antitrust case against Google four years after bringing the case to court. However, the ruling against Google did not say what the search giant will have to do to stop being a monopolist.
The government wants Google to stop paying third parties like Apple for making Google Search the default search engine on phones. Google might also have to stop giving Search preferential treatment in other products it owns, like YouTube and Gemini. Also, Google would have to offer rivals access to its search engine at 'marginal cost, and on an ongoing basis.' Google Search got AI Overviews at I/O 2024. The DOJ is also targeting Google's AI initiatives for Google Search.