One of the largest antitrust cases in the United States has concluded. Federal Judge Amit Mehta rejected Google’s request to sell its Chrome browser or Android operating system. However, the company will be forced to change some of its practices to maintain its dominance in search.

Google Chrome saved from sale

In his ruling last year, Judge Mehta ruled that Google had illegally monopolized the search market. The Justice Department then ordered the company to divest Chrome as a solution.

In his 230-page ruling, the judge deemed this request “overreaching,” stating, “Google will not be required to sell Chrome.” The same approach was applied to Android. Perplexity, as is well known, had bid over $34 billion for Chrome.

The new ruling places some restrictions on Google. The company can no longer require pre-installation in its exclusive agreements with device manufacturers. This means that the requirement that manufacturers install apps like Chrome, Google Search, or Assistant to access the Play Store will be eliminated. Furthermore, revenue-sharing agreements will not be tied to these conditions.

Another key issue in the decision is data sharing. Google will be forced to share some of its search data with rival companies. Judge Mehta stated that this decision will reduce the “scale differential” resulting from Google’s years of exclusive distribution agreements. However, the company is not required to share advertising data.

Google had argued that selling Chrome or Android would undermine the US’s technology leadership. This decision is widely viewed as a victory for the company. Following the announcement of the decision, Google released a statement.

“Today’s decision recognizes how much the industry has changed with the advent of artificial intelligence, and that people have many more options for accessing information. Now, the Court has imposed restrictions on how we distribute Google services and required us to share search data with our competitors. We are concerned about how these requirements will impact our users and their privacy, and we are carefully reviewing the decision,” the statement said.