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No. The U.S. government proposed that Google sell Chrome and suggested a possible future Android divestiture, but the court rejected both proposals. The final judgment, entered December 5, 2025, instead sets rules for some Google distribution agreements, requires specified data access and search syndication, and provides for oversight. Those remedies are being implemented and monitored; the latest official status report located for this article was filed September 17, 2026.
What the government proposed
The U.S. Department of Justice and state plaintiffs brought this federal case in the District of Columbia under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. After the court found Google liable for monopolizing general search and general search text advertising in August 2024, the case moved to a separate remedies phase.
In a proposed final judgment filed March 7, 2025, the plaintiffs asked the court to require Google to divest Chrome, including assets or services needed to complete a sale. They also sought restrictions on Google giving its search products preferential access through related products such as Android. Their proposed structural relief included a possible Android divestiture if competition did not increase after five years. These were requests from the plaintiffs, not orders already imposed on Google.
How the proposals compare with the judgment
| Issue | Government proposal | Final judgment |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | Google would divest Chrome; Android could face a contingent divestiture. (DOJ and state plaintiffs’ March 7, 2025 proposal) | No Chrome or Android sale is ordered. The judgment regulates specified distribution terms and provides for data access, syndication, and court oversight. (December 5, 2025 Final Judgment) |
| Timing and trigger | The proposal sought prompt Chrome divestiture and made Android relief contingent on competition not increasing after five years. (March 7, 2025 proposal) | The judgment imposes behavioral obligations, with implementation and compliance monitoring ongoing. (Final Judgment; September 17, 2026 status report) |
| Court’s decision | The plaintiffs argued structural relief would address barriers to competition. | The court rejected both divestiture proposals and entered behavioral remedies instead. (September 2, 2025 remedies opinion; December 5, 2025 Final Judgment) |
Why the court rejected a Chrome sale and Android divestiture
Chrome
In its September 2, 2025 remedies decision, Judge Amit P. Mehta concluded that the plaintiffs had not shown behavioral remedies would be ineffective without selling Chrome and had not met the causal standard required for structural relief. The opinion also discusses technical and operational dependencies involved in separating Chrome from Google.
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The opinion described Chrome as a significant route for search distribution: it cited trial evidence that Chrome accounted for “20% of all searches in the United States.” That figure is the court’s account of evidence in the case, not a new measurement of Chrome’s share in 2026.
Android
The court also rejected the proposed contingent Android divestiture. It reasoned that the plaintiffs had not alleged Google’s ownership of Android caused the relevant anticompetitive effects, and had not established an evidentiary basis for ordering a future structural remedy.
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What Google must do instead
The December 5, 2025 Final Judgment does not transfer ownership of Chrome or Android. It imposes behavioral remedies—rules and obligations governing conduct—rather than requiring Google to sell either product.
- Distribution terms: The judgment bars specified forms of conditioning Google app licensing and distribution payments on exclusive placement of Google Search, Chrome, Assistant, or Google generative-AI products.
- Data access: It provides for specified search-index and user-side data disclosures to qualified competitors.
- Syndication: It provides for search and search-text-ad syndication.
- Oversight: It establishes a Technical Committee and provides for court oversight.
Where the case stands
The DOJ case page lists a Second Status Report filed September 17, 2026. The report says all five Technical Committee members had been onboarded by June 15, 2026, and describes work to implement and enforce the judgment and monitor Google’s compliance. This is an implementation update, not a finding that every remedy is complete or that all compliance questions have been resolved.
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The latest status material cited here does not establish the appellate posture as of October 4, 2026. The report therefore supports describing implementation and monitoring as ongoing, but not making a definitive claim about the status of any appeal.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the ruling says about Google’s search monopoly
The remedies ruling followed a distinct liability decision. In August 2024, the court found Google liable for monopolizing general search and general search text advertising. A 2026 DOJ update describes Google as holding “approximately 90 percent” of U.S. search queries “for years.” That is the DOJ’s characterization, and it should not be confused with the separate trial-record figure the remedies opinion cited for Chrome.
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Judge Mehta’s statement, reproduced in the DOJ update, that “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” refers to the liability finding. It does not mean the court approved the government’s proposed Chrome or Android divestitures.
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