Google Us Antitrust Trials: A Timeline

The largest and second-largest US antitrust tests of nan century, which targeted Google's hunt and advertizing businesses, some ended pinch decisions against nan company. Here's a rundown of awesome milestones successful nan 2 trials.

Google’s power successful nan hunt arena has fixed emergence to 2 awesome antitrust lawsuits from nan US authorities alleging nan institution has manipulated nan marketplace to support that dominance, to nan removal of competitors and nan detriment of nan nationalist astatine large.

The first lawsuit, targeting Google’s hunt business, kicked disconnected successful mid-September 2023 and drew to a adjacent successful May 2024 pinch nan transportation of closing arguments; US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against nan tech elephantine successful August 2024. The New York Times reports that Judge Mehta will preside complete a three-week proceeding to see breaking up Google starting April 21. The second proceedings against nan tech giant, focused connected advertising, took spot complete 15 days successful September 2024, pinch US District Judge Leonie Brinkema’s ruling arriving successful April 2025. Google plans to entreaty some decisions.

The cases heavy echo the turn-of-the-century Microsoft antitrust case successful respective respects, not slightest of which is nan truth that Google faces nan anticipation of being surgery up by regulators if it is unsuccessful successful its ineligible battles.

Here’s our condensed timeline of nan 2 lawsuits and their advancement done nan tribunal system.

April 17, 2025: In a 2nd landmark conclusion for Google, Judge Brinkema ruled that Google illegally monopolized nan advertisement tech market. The company’s “exclusionary behaviour substantially harmed Google’s patient customers, nan competitory process, and, ultimately, consumers of accusation connected nan unfastened web,” she wrote successful the ruling. Remedies, which could see nan breakup of Google’s advertizing products and/or changes to its business practices, will beryllium imposed astatine a early date.

Sept. 20, 2024: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is set to wrap its case successful the Google antitrust proceedings aft an eventful 2 weeks. The tech elephantine is accused of engaging successful monopolistic behaviour by strategically acquiring definite companies and controlling nan adtech industry’s astir widely-used devices and exchanges,  beginning pinch its acquisition of advertizing company DoubleClick in 2008.

Sept. 9, 2024: The 2nd awesome lawsuit against Google began pinch nan institution defending itself against claims it engaged successful forbidden behaviour to support power of nan advertisement tech market. The US authorities is accusing Google of purposefully manipulating that market, snuffing retired competitors and gobbling up cardinal technologies done acquisitions. If nan DoJ successfully makes its case, Google risks being surgery up by regulators.

Aug. 5, 2024: In a awesome conclusion for Google, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that nan institution had engaged successful anticompetitive behavior successful an effort to protect its hunt business. In nan 277-page decision, Mehta was blunt: “After having cautiously considered and weighed nan witnesser grounds and evidence, nan tribunal reaches nan pursuing conclusion: Google is simply a monopolist, and it has acted arsenic 1 to support its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of nan Sherman Act.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland, successful a statement from nan Department of Justice, said: “This triumph against Google is an historical triumph for nan American people. No institution — nary matter really ample aliases influential — is supra nan law.”

Mehta’s ruling did not see remedies for nan anticompetitive behavior; those will beryllium decided later.

May 3, 2024: Over 2 days of closing arguments, nan DoJ revisited its lawsuit for Google having a monopoly connected hunt advertising, and Judge Mehta quizzed some parties astir whether different platforms could beryllium viewed arsenic substitutes for Google’s hunt advertizing business. He hasn’t said really agelong he expects to return to scope a decision, but if he rules against Google, a 2nd proceeding will return spot to determine connected immoderate remedies.

Nov. 16, 2023: The evidentiary shape of nan proceedings finishes, arsenic Judge Mehta issues instructions for post-trial submissions. Despite sizeable amounts of redaction and closed-door testimony, nan lawsuit revealed immoderate unprecedented specifications astir nan relationships betwixt nan largest tech companies successful nan world, including nan truth that Apple apparently keeps 36% of nan hunt gross from Google searches successful Safari, and Apple erstwhile considered buying Microsoft’s Bing hunt motor arsenic leverage against Google. Judge Mehta has scheduled closing arguments successful nan lawsuit for May 1, 2024.

Oct. 31, 2023: Google CEO Sundai Pichai takes nan stand, for long-awaited grounds astir nan narration betwixt his institution and Apple. He gave immoderate specifications astir Google’s negotiations pinch Apple complete a statement that made Google nan default hunt motor connected Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Google has paid billions for nan privilege of being nan default hunt connected Apple products, and nan narration is simply a cardinal portion of nan lawsuit – which was underlined by nan Justice Department’s cross-examination of Pichai, during which he admitted that default hunt position is simply a awesome driver of marketplace share.

Oct. 18, 2023: Google originates its defense, calling Paul Nayak, a vice president of search, to nan guidelines arsenic its first witness. Nayak downplays nan value of standard successful his testimony, stressing that machine intelligence, compute infrastructure, and a squad of 16,000 unit that checks connected hunt results are important to maintaining value of service. DOJ witnesses including DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had testified that Google keeps an separator complete competitors via an ever-increasing trove of information — nan consequence of its default hunt motor status, maintained done exclusive contracts and billions of dollars successful payments to Apple, Samsung and different companies. This information gives Google an advantage successful refining hunt motor results, they said. 

Oct. 3, 2023: As a witnesser for nan prosecution successful nan Google antitrust trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns that Google’s monopoly profits could fastener successful publishers arsenic AI-enabled hunt arrives. Nadella based on that it’s almost intolerable to compete pinch Google, fixed nan hunt leader’s monolithic competitory separator successful collecting and analyzing personification data. He besides warned that Google, pinch its immense profits and fastener connected nan hunt market, stands poised to widen its monopoly powerfulness successful a caller era wherever artificial intelligence technologies will turbocharge nan hunt business.

Sept. 26, 2023: Apple’s Eddy Cue testifies down closed doors successful nan Google hunt case, arsenic critics slam presiding Judge Amit Mehta’s determination to clasp overmuch of nan trial’s grounds from witnesses secret, let documents to beryllium heavy redacted, and artifact immoderate documents from nationalist position — chiefly astatine nan insistence of Google, but besides astatine nan petition of different companies, including Apple. By nan extremity of Cue’s grounds — and aft a wek of wrangling by each parties — Judge Mehta rules that documents utilized during nan proceedings tin beryllium published online astatine nan extremity of each day, but still allows clip Google and 3rd parties to entity to exhibits being shown publically earlier nan DOJ presents them successful court. 

Sept. 21, 2023: Judge Mehta rules that nationalist entree to tribunal exhibits, which person been mostly soul Google documents frankincense far, should beryllium removed, aft Google challenged nan Justice Department’s regular publication of them. The institution said that it was concerned for its employees’ privacy.

Sept. 12, 2023: The default hunt proceedings originates pinch opening statements, and nan authorities originates its case.

Aug. 2023: Judge Mehta grants partial summary judgement for Google successful nan hunt case, saying that nan authorities had grounded to raise a genuine conflict of worldly truth connected antitrust charges relating to contracts astir nan usage of nan Android operating system, arsenic good arsenic Google Assistant and IoT devices. The claims relating to Google’s exclusive “default search” contracts, however, are allowed to proceed to trial.

July/Aug. 2023: Google and nan plaintiffs successful nan hunt lawsuit reason various motions in limine, designed to power what grounds should beryllium included aliases excluded successful nan existent trial. Discovery and mobility believe complete grounds continues successful nan advertizing case.

June 2023: Judge Mehta schedules a proceedings day of September 12, 2023 for nan hunt case.

April 2023: Judge Leonie M. Brinkema denies Google’s mobility to disregard successful nan advertizing case.

March 2023: Google’s mobility to transportation nan advertizing lawsuit to New York is denied by Judge Brinkema, who orders nan parties to propose find schedules wrong 2 weeks of nan order. Two weeks later, Google moves to disregard nan lawsuit for nonaccomplishment to authorities a claim, arguing that nan plaintiffs person simply produced ineligible conclusions, and not circumstantial facts, that could support their claims. Judge Brinkema schedules pre-trial conferences for January 2024.

Feb. 2023: The plaintiffs successful nan default hunt lawsuit case move for sanctions against Google, accusing it of spoliation, which refers to nan destruction, alteration aliases nonaccomplishment to sphere applicable grounds successful a case. Elsewhere, successful nan advertizing case, Google moves to transportation nan lawsuit from nan Eastern District of Virginia to nan Southern District of New York, which is seen arsenic an effort to consolidate nan lawsuit pinch related integer advertizing antitrust litigation.

Jan. 2023: A 2nd antitrust action, pushed by 8 states and nan DoJ, is revenge successful national territory tribunal successful eastbound Virginia. The plaintiffs, who telephone for Google’s advertizing business to beryllium divided up, impeach Google of manipulating its ascendant position successful nan online advertizing world to compression retired rivals and power some nan proviso and request broadside of nan advertizing market. Google, according to nan complaint, thwarted adjacent title by manipulating fees, punished advertisers for utilizing replacement platforms and advertisement exchanges, and engaged successful a big of further anti-competitive behaviour successful nan liking of monopolizing nan marketplace. (This is lawsuit that began successful September 2024.)

Dec. 2022: Google moves for summary judgement against nan abstracted Colorado lawsuit and nan larger, DoJ-led case. A summary judgement mobility is fundamentally a petition by 1 of nan parties successful a suit that nan judge norm successful their favour and extremity nan case, arguing that, based connected nan undisputed facts, they are entitled to triumph nan lawsuit arsenic a matter of law.

May 2022: A deadline of June 17 is group for nan accumulation of each find materials. Further documents – for example, those whose is beingness is first disclosed successful precocious successful nan find model – tin beryllium produced until June 30.

May 2022: Judge Mehta denies a authorities mobility to punishment Google for inaccurately classifying documents arsenic attorney-client privileged. The plaintiffs had based on that emails connected which Google’s lawyers were listed arsenic recipients aliases CCed, but that nan lawyers ne'er responded to, constituted a misuse of nan attorney-client privilege rules.

Dec. 2021: Judge Mehta conditionally splits Colorado’s claims from nan lawsuit astatine large, ordering that abstracted tests connected that state’s issues of liability and remedies will beryllium “more convenient for nan Court and nan Parties, and will expedite and economize this litigation.”

Aug.-Oct. 2021: Discovery-related motions and orders continue, arsenic Yelp and Samsung subordinate nan fray. (Those companies, for illustration Microsoft and Apple, are applicable to nan lawsuit moreover if they aren’t parties themselves, arsenic their soul records are perchance applicable to Google’s liability.)

June/July 2021: The find process continues, and nan U.S. and Google some record respective documents pinch nan tribunal nether seal. (Microsoft files 2 sealed documents, arsenic well, successful consequence to Google’s subpoenas for institution records, and Apple becomes progressive aft nan authorities requests entree to immoderate of its soul information.)

March 2021: Meetings betwixt Google and nan various governmental plaintiffs continue, pinch periodic position reports connected nan find process.

Jan. 2021: Google files a consequence to nan complaint, admitting to galore of nan facts alleged by nan Justice Department and associated attorneys general, but categorically denying nan constituent of nan government’s claims of illegality. Further responses to abstracted but related claims, mostly to circumstantial authorities attorneys general, travel successful nan consequent weeks and months.

Dec. 2020: Judge Amit Mehta approves nan joinder of Michigan, Wisconsin and California to nan suit.

Oct. 2020: The Department of Justice, on pinch nan attorneys wide of 11 states, sues Google successful DC national territory tribunal for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly, successful usurpation of Section 2 of nan Sherman Act. The lawsuit centers connected Google’s usage of exclusive contracts that instruction its usage arsenic nan default hunt motor successful a big of different hardware and package applications, pinch nan authorities alleging that this represents an artificial constraint connected immoderate imaginable title for nan hunt giant.