May 21 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google has persuaded a federal judge in

California to reject a lawsuit from video platform Rumble accusing the technology giant

of illegally monopolizing the online video-sharing market.

In a ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr said Rumble's 2021 lawsuit

seeking more than $2 billion in damages was untimely filed outside the four-year statute of

limitations for antitrust claims.

Rumble accused Google of violating antitrust law by rigging user searches to give preference

to Google's YouTube platform over Rumble. The lawsuit also accused Google of scheming with

device makers to bar Rumble from being preinstalled on some Android phones.

Google had no immediate comment, and Rumble did not immediately respond to a request for

one.

At the heart of its case, Rumble said there was "considerable direct evidence" that Google

illegally was "self-referencing" its YouTube platform in web searches. Rumble claimed it lost

out on billions of video views on its platform. Google has denied Rumble's claims and had urged

Gilliam to end the case before trial, which was set for July.

Gilliam said Rumble failed to present evidence allowing a jury to find and apply an

exception to the statute of limitations. The judge criticized Rumble for presenting "bare

attorney argument lacking any evidentiary support."

Rumble, founded in 2013, had an average of 59 million global monthly active users in the

first quarter of 2025, the company said this month.

The platform had recently expanded its trial team to include prominent litigator David Boies

of law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.

Rumble separately is suing Google over its digital advertising practices. The lawsuit, filed

last year in California, accused the company of anticompetitive conduct relating to online

advertising.

Google has called Rumble's claims in that case "simply wrong" and said Rumble uses "dozens"

of competing ad services in addition to Google's ad manager.

Google faces other antitrust allegations by the U.S. government and groups of states that

are challenging the company's dominance in digital advertising and search markets. Google has

denied the allegations in those cases.

The case is Rumble v. Google, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California,

No. 4:21-cv-00229.

For Rumble: Nicholas Gravante, Philip Iovieno and Danielle Tully of Cadwalader, Wickersham &

Taft; David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner; and Robert Dickerson Jr of the Competition &

Technology Law Group

For Google: John Schmidtlein and Stephen Fuzesi of Williams & Connolly; and David Kramer of

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

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