Google will be allowed to continue to enter into search agreements with Apple and other companies, the judge presiding over the antitrust case between Google and the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday, reports Bloomberg.
While Google is not allowed to sign exclusive search engine distribution deals, but it will be allowed to pay to be a search engine option on devices like the iPhone. Apple earns approximately $20 billion a year from its current deal with Google, and the court could have banned them from entering into any such search engine deals.
“Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial — in some cases, crippling — downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban,” said the judge.
Google will continue to be allowed to make payments or offer “other consideration” to other companies for the preloading or placement of its Google Chrome, Gemini, or Search products.
Google will also not be required to divest itself of its Chrome browser or its Android operating system. The judge commented that the government had “overreached in seeking the forced divestiture” of the assets.
Google will be required to share data with rival search engines.
Google is appealing the ruling.