Google today appealed a 2024 ruling that it violated antitrust law by paying to be the default search engine on iPhones. In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Google said the district court erred in finding that Google’s search success was due to something other than merit-based competition.
Google suggested that it was outperforming the competition through better innovation, more investment and “simply by working harder”, which is why Apple chose Google Search as the default search option on Apple devices.
Whether or not Google has monopoly power, Google has not done anything to “harm the competitive process.” That didn’t stop its competitors from making a better offer – nor Apple and Mozilla’s ability to choose – a better offer. Indeed, there is no finding – or even evidence – that Google’s customers would have chosen a rival, even in the absence of the disputed agreements. Google has just established itself on the market.
The filing highlights that Apple was free to distribute and promote competing search engines, with Google highlighting alternative browser options offered by Apple in Safari settings. Google suggests that any “exclusivity” interpreted by the district court was Apple’s choice for “good business reasons.”
Google asks the court of appeal to cancel the remedies put in place to fight its search monopoly. Google has been asked to share search data, offer insights into user interaction and disseminate its results to competing companies, all of which it will have to start doing unless there is a successful appeal.
While Google wants the entire decision overturned, Google also wants generative AI companies like OpenAI to be excluded from receiving data. Google claims that AI products “didn’t even exist” during the period covered by the DoJ filing, so it makes no sense for them to receive search data. Google added that AI companies are “already as successful as any technology in human history, without needing to ride on Google’s success.”
Google pays Apple billions of dollars each year to make Safari the default search engine, and the deal was a major part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google. Apple’s search agreement with Google could have been addressed in Google’s appeals, but the court did not stop Google from entering into search agreements.
Although Google is not allowed to enter into exclusive contracts for search engine distribution, it is still allowed to pay Apple to be a search engine option on iPhone. The DoJ also wanted Google to be forced to sell its Chrome browser and possibly get rid of the Android operating system, but neither of these consequences were implemented.
The remedies in the DoJ case against Google took effect on February 3, but Google has not yet been required to provide data because implementation details have not been worked out. The five-member technical committee set up by the judge in the case did not define licensing conditions or confidentiality guarantees, nor did it establish criteria for companies to qualify as competitors.
Google’s appeal arguments have not been scheduled, so we are unlikely to hear more on the issue until late 2026 or early 2027.
