Google is appealing a 2024 antitrust ruling that found it held an illegal monopoly in search and advertising, focusing on its $20 billion agreement with Apple to be the default search engine in Safari. The company argues the deal was the result of fair competition, not anti-competitive practices, emphasizing that Apple independently chose Google over rivals like Bing due to performance and monetization strengths. Google also challenges the court's requirement to share search data with competitors, particularly AI companies like OpenAI that don’t offer traditional search engines.

The appeal claims the original ruling misinterpreted the nature of the Apple deal as exclusive when it was actually non-exclusive and driven by business logic. Safari still allows users to switch to other search engines, and Google contends there's no evidence consumers would have preferred alternatives. The company also notes that Apple itself deemed Bing inferior in both search quality and ad revenue potential.

A key point in the appeal is whether generative AI firms should be treated as search competitors. Google argues that forcing it to share data with companies like OpenAI—whose products reference search results but don’t operate general search engines—unfairly burdens its position. The court has not yet responded to the appeal, with possible proceedings expected in late 2026 or 2027.