Google avoids break-up in search monopoly case

The Google campus in Mountain View, Califfornia (Jeff Chiu/AP)

A federal judge has ordered a shake-up of Google’s search engine in a crackdown aimed at curbing the corrosive power of an illegal monopoly while rebuffing the US government’s attempt to break up the company and impose other restraints.

The 226-page decision made by US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, DC, will likely ripple across the technological landscape at a time when the industry is being reshaped by breakthroughs in artificial intelligence — including conversational “answer engines” as companies like ChatGPT and Perplexity try to upend Google’s long-held position as the internet’s main gateway.