Judge sets first hearing in U.S. Google antitrust lawsuit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Monday set a status hearing on the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google for Friday.

The Justice Department last week sued the $1 trillion (767.81 billion pounds) company and accused it of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech in decades.

Mehta said lawyers for Google and the Justice Department must appear at the telephone status hearing at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) that will be open to the public or media.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler)