Google Appeals Search Monopoly Ruling, Calls Decision “Flawed” and Claims It Won Business Fairly

Google filed its formal appeal in May 2026 of the federal ruling that found it an illegal search monopolist, arguing the decision “crashed” through legal guardrails and that the company “prevailed in the marketplace fair and square.”

The appeal targets two prior rulings: Judge Amit Mehta’s August 2024 decision finding Google guilty of illegal monopolization, and his September 2025 remedies decision ordering the company to share search data with competitors. The appeal brief, filed Friday, provides the clearest picture yet of how Google intends to challenge those rulings before a federal appeals court in Washington, DC.

“We are asking the court to overturn this flawed decision — partners and users have many options and choose Google because it provides the best, most helpful results,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s VP of regulatory affairs.

Google contends that Mehta wrongly concluded its search distribution agreements with browser and device makers were anticompetitive, arguing instead that those partners simply preferred Google’s services over rivals’. The company also argues Mehta “egregiously exceeded” his judicial discretion in the remedies he ordered, particularly the requirement to share data with generative AI companies — firms Google says did not exist during the relevant period and are “already succeeding as wildly as any technology in human history.”

The US government and a coalition of states that brought the original case are also appealing, but from the opposite direction — arguing Mehta did not go far enough. The government had sought stronger remedies, including a forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser, which it views as a key distribution platform for search. Mehta declined that request.

The case, first filed roughly five years ago, now moves to the DC federal appeals court. It could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.