US Judge Orders No Delay In Trial Of DOJ's Case Against Google

A U.S. judge has declared that it will not be delaying the trial on the case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Google over the tech giant's dominance in the online search market

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington said on Tuesday the trial will proceed in April as planned and the incoming Trump administration will not be granted additional time to revise request, Reuters reported.

"If there is going to be a re-evaluation of the remedies that are being requested, it needs to be done quickly," he said during the hearing, the report added.

The DOJ put forward the proposal to force Google, which is owned by Alphabet, to sell the Chrome browser, and the possibility of selling the Android mobile operating system, in an attempt to diversify Google search distribution points.

The department also proposed to impose restrictions on its Android operating system to prevent Google from using the software to favor its search engine. In addition, the DOJ seeks to prohibit Google from securing multibillion-dollar deals that make its search engine the default on devices like Apple's iPhone.

Earlier, Trump has already noted lack of interest in pursuing the antitrust policies pursued under President Joe Biden's administration. He also expressed skepticism on breaking up the dominance of Google in search engines. While cases against Big Tech will continue during his term, his pronouncement on Google may also affect how the cases would be running.

"If you do that, are you going to destroy the company? What you can do without breaking it up is make sure it's more fair," Trump noted during an event in Chicago, as per Reuters' report.

It was in 2020, during the initial presidential term of Trump, that the DOJ sued Google. In August, Judge Mehta ruled that Google holds an "illegal monopoly" when it comes to online searches. The company controls approximately 90% of the search market and has sheer dominance of 95% on smartphones.

"The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," he wrote in his decision.

The DOJ under the Biden administration wanted Google to sell Chrome, the widely used browser in the world, and also to share search data with its rivals.

The proposal also seeks to prohibit the tech giant from investing in search rivals or on advertising technology and query-based artificial intelligence.

In response to the proposals of the DOJ, Google called it as "staggering" and also said that it would harm American competitiveness.