Judge orders Google to rebid for default search deals every year in major antitrust setback

Google has been hit with a significant antitrust restriction after a US federal judge ruled that the tech giant must renegotiate all its default search and AI app placement contracts every year, a move that threatens the long-term deals that have helped lock in its dominance on billions of devices.

The ruling, delivered by Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, enforces remedies tied to his 2024 decision that Google illegally monopolized online search and search advertising markets. Under the new order, Google’s default placement agreements, including high-value contracts with Apple’s iPhone and Android manufacturers such as Samsung, cannot extend beyond one year.

The “hard-and-fast termination requirement after one year,” Mehta said, is necessary to prevent the company from using multi-year deals to maintain a barrier against competition. The decision is designed to make room for rival search engines and emerging generative-AI platforms to compete for default positions each year.

The judgment follows a September directive requiring the company to share select search-ranking data with competitors, further widening the opening for challengers in both search and AI markets.

The ruling lands at a time when Google faces rapidly intensifying competition. OpenAI recently launched Atlas, a browser powered by a ChatGPT-based interface, while firms like Perplexity AI, Microsoft’s Edge with Copilot integration, and Opera One with its AI assistant Aria are pushing aggressively into the search-and-assist ecosystem.

Although Google can still pay for default placement, the new annual renegotiation rule sharply limits its ability to lock in multi-year dominance across mobile and desktop platforms. The company plans to appeal several antitrust rulings currently pending, including those involving its Play Store practices and search operations.