TL;DR
- The DOJ antitrust officials have reached a consensus regarding Google selling off its Chrome browser to remedy its monopolistic position.
- The officials reportedly pulled back from recommending to the court that Google sell off Android, the operating system.
In August 2024, a federal judge ruled against Google in the antitrust case filed by the Department of Justice against the search giant. As mentioned in the ruling, “the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”
The court further added that the company “has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act,” which prohibits individuals or businesses from monopolizing interstate trade (including an attempt to monopolize certain businesses). The court holds that Google has a monopoly in general search services and the general search text ads market.
Federal Judge Ruled Against Google In The Antitrust Case (August 2024)
It was also highlighted that the company distribution agreements have anticompetitive effects. The publicly-available case document also includes details about the deals Google made with Apple, Samsung, and other companies to be the default search engine.
However, the court also concluded that Google lacks a monopoly in the search advertising market. For those catching up, the United States Department of Justice filed the case on October 20, 2020, joined by 11 other states.
DOJ Recommends Selling Off The Chrome Browser To End The Monopoly
Now, the DOJ antitrust officials have reached a consensus regarding Google selling off its Chrome browser to remedy its monopolistic position. According to a Bloomberg report, “enforcers want the judge to order Google to sell off Chrome — the most widely used browser worldwide,” as it is a key access point that lets millions of people use the search engine.
The officials reportedly pulled back from recommending to the court that Google sell off Android, the operating system. “The government has the option to decide whether a Chrome sale is necessary at a later date” if the other remedies help create a fair situation in the market, where more players can compete.
The states, along with the agency, will recommend to the court that Google license the data and results from its search engine. Further, they’ll also ask Google to let the website prevent the published content from being listed and processed by Google’s language models.
Ever since AI Overviews came along, many websites have complained about a dramatic drop in traffic, as the feature displays snippets from their content, preventing the user from actually opening the website.
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Who Could Google Possibly Sell Of Chrome To?
The report clearly mentions that any companies that can theoretically afford the search giant are themselves going through antitrust scrutiny, pinpointing Amazon. Further, it highlights that OpenAI could be a potential buyer, giving it the distribution it requires to train its AI models and a cash-positive ads business that could also lead to increased subscriptions.
However, what concerns me is that selling Chrome might not end the monopoly. In fact, it might create a new monopoly. Whoever buys the browser will gain control of the traffic that it brings in, its advertising business, and everything else that comes with it. Unless the company does not change how the browser works (at its fundamentals), selling off Chrome would result in a monopoly shift.
It will definitely affect the Alphabet-owned company (as Google ads bring in a majority of revenue for the company), but it will also put an entity with no prior experience in handling traffic and user data at such a large scale in control of the data. It goes without saying, but this would also increase the chances of abuse or misuse of the platform.
Other Remedies Include Uncpupling Android From Other Google Products And Banning Exclusive Contracts
The Bloomberg report also mentions other remedies that could possibly help reduce Google’s monopoly. One of them is uncoupling the Android operating system from other Google products, like the Google Play store. While having their own Play Store helps Google screen apps and guides developers to optimize the development process, allowing users to use third-party app stores might help increase competition.
Google could also be banned from placing exclusive contracts with other companies, as that is yet another recommendation by the DOJ antitrust officials. For those catching up, Google signs multi-billion dollar deals with giants like Apple and Samsung to keep its search engine as the default option for users.
Also Read: Google Faces $1.67 Billion Trial for allegedly infringing AI-related Patents
The federal judge will hear from Judge Amit Mehta about the recommendations on Wednesday. Stay tuned for updates on the case and other tech news.
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