Judge Grills U.S. and Google on Antitrust Claims

The judge overseeing a landmark U.S. antitrust challenge to Google tried to poke holes in both sides' cases during closing arguments Thursday as he weighed a ruling that could reshape the technology industry.

Judge Amit P. Mehta was presiding over the first day of closing arguments in the most consequential tech antitrust case since the U.S. government sued Microsoft in the late 1990s. The Justice Department has sued Google, accusing it of illegally shoring up a monopoly in online search. Google has denied the claims.

On Thursday, Judge Mehta questioned the government's argument that Google's dominance had hurt the quality of the experience for searching for information online. But he also pushed Google to defend its central argument that it isn't a monopoly because consumers use other companies like Amazon to search for shopping items and TikTok to search for music clips.

"Certainly I don't think the average person would say, 'Google and Amazon are the same thing,'" Judge Mehta said.

His ruling — expected in the coming weeks or months — will help set a precedent for a series of government challenges to tech giants' size and power. Federal regulators have also filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple, Amazon and Meta, and a second case against Google over online advertising.

Before the start of closing arguments in a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia courtroom, Jonathan Kanter, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, approached Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google, to chat.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.