Google must share search data with competitors, may keep Chrome and Android
Judge rules in Google’s monopoly trial: The company avoids breakup but must share some search data with rivals, making its business more open to competition.
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Around a year ago, a US federal court ruled that Google's search engine business is illegal in antitrust proceedings against the data company. The judge has now announced the resulting sanctions for Google. According to the ruling, the company will not be split up and will be allowed to keep products such as the Chrome web browser and the Android operating system. However, Google will be obliged to share search data and search results with "qualified competitors".
The US court in Washington, DC, has thus only partially agreed with the plaintiffs' demands. The US Department of Justice and several US states, for example, had demanded that Google sell Chrome. Google is a monopolist and exploits its dominant market position, meaning that at least the browser business should be spun off, according to the proceedings brought at the beginning of 2021 under then US President Joe Biden (case no. 1:20-cv-03010-APM).
Judge demands openness and moderation from Google
However, US Judge Amit P. Mehta has not complied with this, as the New York Times reports. Last year, he declared, "Google is a monopolist and has acted like one to maintain its monopoly." But now he is striking a conciliatory tone, writing: "Plaintiffs have overreached by demanding a forced sale of these key assets, even though Google has not used them to enforce illegal restrictions."
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However, Google is far from getting off scot-free. The judge banned the data company from concluding exclusive contracts for Google Search, Chrome, the Google Assistant and the Gemini app. One of the allegations was that Google paid 26 billion US dollars in 2021 alone, not least to Apple, for Chrome and Google Search to be pre-installed on end devices. According to the judge, this is almost four times the total other costs of the search engine.
However, Google may continue to pay manufacturers to install the search engine and web browser on devices and prioritize them, but only to a limited extent. "Unlike a typical case where the court's job is to resolve a dispute based on historical facts, here the court is being asked to look into a crystal ball and see into the future," Mehta wrote, according to Thewrap. "Not exactly the strength of a judge."
Google is likely to fight back anyway, even in the monopoly trial over advertising
Despite the concessions regarding Chrome and Android, Google is likely to appeal to obtain a more lenient judgment. The proceedings are therefore likely to drag on for years, meaning that the market situation may continue to change in light of technological developments. It is already being said that AI search engines are changing the internet, as more and more people are using artificial intelligence chatbots instead of traditional search engines to answer their questions. Google's market share could therefore change massively over the coming years.
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At the same time, another ruling harming the data company is expected soon, as another US court found Google to have an illegal monopoly in April. The case concerned technologies for placing online advertisements. The hearing on the appeals is due to continue in September and a decision is still pending.
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