Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the press conference after his meeting with Polish PM Donald Tusk at Google for Startups Campus In Warsaw in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 13, 2025.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Google on Friday filed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the company held an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.
The appeal could result in a delay of remedies against the Alphabet-owned company while the legal process continues plays out.
The 2024 ruling “ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they’re forced to,” Google Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland wrote in a Friday blog.
“The decision failed to account for the rapid pace of innovation and intense competition we face from established players and well-funded start-ups,” she wrote.
The antitrust trial started in September 2023, and in August 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act and held a monopoly in search and related advertising. At the time, Google said it would likely appeal the decision.
Last Spring, the company and the DOJ participated in a remedies trial to determine the the consequences Google would implement. The trial included witnesses from Apple and Mozilla, as well as competitors from OpenAI and other companies. In September 2025, Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences proposed by the Department of Justice, including a forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser. The ruling was seen as a win for Google, with its stock jumping 8% following the news.
Mehta finalized the remedies in December. Mehta stipulated that Google must share some of its raw search interaction data that it uses to train its ranking and AI systems, but he spared the company from having to share its actual algorithms. Mehta also wrote that Google cannot enter into any deals like the search agreement the company had with Apple “unless the agreement terminates no more than one year after the date it is entered.”
Analysts at the time compared the lighter-than-expected remedies to a slap on the wrist.
Google is asking to pause the implementation of the remedies, Mulholland wrote on Friday.
“These mandates would risk Americans’ privacy and discourage competitors from building their own products,” Mulholland wrote. “Ultimately stifling the innovation that keeps the U.S. at the forefront of global technology.”
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