Open Markets Responds to Google Search Remedies Decision

WASHINGTON, DC (September 2, 2025) - Open Markets Institute Executive Director Barry Lynn released the following statement following Judge Mehta’s failure to force Google to divest from Chrome and Android following his finding the company has maintained an illegal monopoly on search:

“Google for years has wielded its vast power over all layers of the digital economy to crush competitors, halt innovation, and rob Americans of their right to read, watch, and buy what they want without being manipulated by one of the most powerful corporations in human history. Judge Mehta’s order that Google share search data with competitors and cease entering into exclusive contracts does nothing to right those wrongs. Instead, it lets Google and every other monopolist know that even the most egregious violation of law will be met with a slap on the wrist. 

“After making the legally sound and morally courageous decision to find Google liable for illegal monopolistic practices, Judge Mehta apparently decided that actually enforcing the law was more than he could stomach. Any order requiring the corporation to divest any component of Google’s vast, sprawling, tentacular power system would be “incredibly messy and highly risky,” Mehta wrote. Actually, what is messy and risky is failing to address a concentration of power that threatens US democracy and the liberty of every American. What is messy and risky is the failure to deliver justice.”

“We call on the Department of Justice and state Attorneys General who pursued this case to appeal these remedies.”

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