The Win Goes to Google, and it’s Good News for the U.S. in AI
By Rebecca Grant: The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said it “won significant remedies” in its online search monopolization case against Google in United States et al. v. Google, delivered September 2.
Everyone else called the ruling a win for Google, especially since Judge Amit Mehta backed away from the demand that Google sell Chrome, calling such a move “a poor fit” for this case.
“Google gets away scot-free,” opined Computerworld. “This? This is it? Instead of being broken up, Google gets a slap on the wrist,” the magazine opined.
Google’s stock immediately went up 8%. That’s because the ruling stayed far away from harsh penalties like forcing a sell-off of the Chrome browser.
“Despite the rise of AI and alternative search engines, Google remains the king of search in 2025,” an article published on August 15 found. About 21% of Google’s queries come from the United States. Globally, Google handles 89% of searches. Intriguingly, the average number of searches per day is 4, but the median is 1.8, suggesting there are some individuals – ahem – who do a lot more googling than average.
Like Barney Google and his racehorse Sparkplug, it’s a victory, “of sorts.”
Google, like other American tech giants, faces business challenges ahead. The Trump Administration needs to be smart and careful about its AI chip export rules, for example. Companies like Google need freedom to “export” their advanced TPUs and operate data centers abroad as part of the U.S. campaign to dominate the AI tech stack. One analyst pointed out that “AI engines will be the next frontier where content will compete for attention.”
Then there is the ill-tempered European Union. While they are great as NATO allies, America’s European friends are hot to siphon off America’s tech profits in the form of digital services taxes and fines. The European Union laid a $3.5 billion fine on Google over its ad-tech business on September 5.
The White House was not happy with the EU. “As I have said before, my Administration will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies.” Read more on Trump’s reaction here, here, and here.