October 27 Deadline to Determine Google Search Data Sharing Model in US Antitrust Case
Key Facts
The U.S. antitrust case against Google is approaching a new practical phase, with an October 27, 2026 deadline to submit a search data sharing model to the court. The Justice Department’s second status report, filed on September 17, said prosecutors and the technical committee were working on a licensing model covering the search index and user data. The step is part of implementing a final judgment issued by the court on December 5, 2025, which required the company to share certain search data with qualified competitors, among other measures. The current developments therefore focus on the terms for making the data available and safeguards for its use, while the legal challenge to the ruling remains a separate ongoing track. Court filings show that Google filed its appeal on May 22, 2026, and that the states and co-plaintiffs filed their response and cross-appeal on July 28.
In the latest implementation step, prosecutors on October 13 filed a supplemental recommendation with a revised version of a licensing model for aggregating search results and text search ads. Prosecutors said Google had proposed further revisions to the model’s terms and that the parties discussed the reasons for those changes that same day. This means the discussion has extended to the practical wording of the license, including how the model will aggregate search results and text ads. The supplemental recommendation sets out the prosecutors’ position on the revised version, while the recommended model is expected to be submitted to the court by the deadline stated in the status report. This timeline makes the terms of future sharing a direct focus of implementing the ruling, alongside the appeals court’s review of the legal dispute.
The data implementation proceedings take place in the context of the court’s ruling on competition in search and related advertising. According to the Justice Department, the original trial began in September 2023 and lasted nine weeks, before the court issued a 277-page opinion in August 2024 concluding that Google was a monopolist and maintained its monopoly in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The final judgment followed on December 5, 2025, requiring the sharing of certain search data with qualified competitors. Google’s appeal challenges the monopoly ruling, while the October filings address the steps required to implement the data-sharing measures. The available evidence does not identify artificial intelligence services as a separate beneficiary of this requirement; the ruling describes the beneficiary group as “qualified competitors.”
Google argues in its appeal that Judge Amit Mehta made legal errors in his 2024 ruling, which concluded that the company unlawfully excluded competitors by paying billions of dollars a year to companies, including Apple, to be the default search engine on new devices. The company argued that these arrangements did not prevent device manufacturers and browser developers from promoting competing search engines such as Bing. It also said it had outperformed in the market by developing a search engine it described as “better, thanks to hard work, bold innovation and calculated business decisions.” These arguments set out the basis for challenging the ruling, while prosecutors continue to pursue implementation measures that include data sharing. If Google loses before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it could seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a Reuters report.
On the market, Alphabet Class A shares closed at $318.99 on October 26, compared with $320.21 on October 23 and $344.18 on October 19. These prices put the stock’s performance in recent sessions in the background as investors follow developments in the case, without themselves establishing the effect of the legal proceedings on the share price. The next procedural step is the submission of the data sharing model to the court on October 27, 2026, according to the second status report. After privacy and security safeguards for user data are set, Google will have six months to implement them. The timing of data access for qualified competitors is therefore tied to two practical tracks: first completing the model and licensing terms, then implementing the safeguards within the specified period.