Will Google Sell Chrome Over Anti-Trust Case? What Would This Mean For Internet Searches, Advertising? – News18

Last Updated:November 25, 2024, 14:05 IST

DOJ’s structural remedies include restrictions to bar contracts with Apple and Samsung to make Google default search option. This could disrupt Google’s monopoly. Other changes include more competition from AI-powered search options

Google has warned that any action taken against it will not benefit small businesses but will allow tech behemoths like Amazon, Microsoft and TikTok to fill the void.

Google has been in the eye of the anti-trust storm in the US, where big tech like Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have been accused of creating monopolies in the market to kill competition.

In a significant development in the marathon anti-trust cases against the tech giant, the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ) has plans to force Google to sell off Chrome so that the monopoly it has over the internet search market ends.

The DOJ and several other states had filed several court papers saying it plans to enforce “structural remedies” to prevent Google from using some of its products, including Chrome.

A Bloomberg report said the DOJ will push Alphabet-owned Google to sell the browser and ask a judge to require new measures related to Artificial Intelligence as well as its Android smartphone operating system.

The intervention comes after a landmark ruling by judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court of Columbia in August. Mehta said “Google is a monopolist” and has “acted to maintain its monopoly”.

What Is The Anti-Trust Case Against Google?

The DOJ and over 30 US state attorneys had filed a case against Google for its market dominance in the internet search market and alleged that Google was engaging in illegal practices to suppress competition by other search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo.

Judge Mehta created a feedback loop between the monopolization of internet search and increased ad revenue, allowing the company to hike digital ad prices and dominate the market even more.

Google “enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices,” according to the ruling.

The ruling also said Google has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits businesses and individuals from monopolising interstate trade or commerce.

What Are Other Anti-Trust Cases Against Google?

Google faces another charge of building, acquiring and maintaining a monopoly over the technology that matches online publishers to advertisers. The dominance over the buy side and the sell side of the transaction enables Google to keep as much as 36 cents on the dollar when it brokers sales between publishers and advertisers, the government contended. The court also believes that Google controls the ad exchange market, which matches the buy to sell side.

“One monopoly is bad enough. But a trifecta of monopolies is what we have here,” Justice Department lawyer Julia Tarver Wood had said, as quoted by The Associated Press in September.

In December, a judge declared Google’s Android app store a monopoly in a case brought by a private gaming company.

Google is also facing intensifying pressure over its ad tech business across the Atlantic. British competition regulators last week accused the search giant of abusing its dominance in the country’s digital ad market and giving preference to its own services.

European Union antitrust enforcers had suggested in its investigation last year that breaking up the company was the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its digital ad business.

What Has Google Said?

The search engine said the government has built a case on an internet of yesteryear, where internet users typed precise words in World Wide Web addresses into URL fields. Today, advertisers are more likely to turn to social media companies like TikTok.

Google had asserted that the integration of its technology on the buy side, sell side and in the middle assures ads and web pages load quickly and enhance security.

Google also said the government’s case is improperly focused on display ads and banner ads that load on web pages accessed through a desktop computer and does not account for consumers’ migration to mobile apps and the boom in ads placed on social media sites over the last 15 years.

Google lawyer Karen Dunn had warned that any action taken against Google will not benefit small businesses but will simply allow other tech behemoths like Amazon, Microsoft and TikTok to fill the void.

Google’s annual reports stated that its revenue declined in recent years for Google Networks that includes AdSense and Google AdManager from $31.7 billion in 2021 to $31.3 billion in 2023.

What Next For Internet Searches?

With the DOJ considering structural remedies on Google’s, there could be a few changes on internet searches based on the anti-trust lawsuit.

One of the main components of the suits is the exclusive multi-billion dollar deals to be the default search engine for mobile phone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. Restrictions to bar these contracts could change the default search options, which could disrupt Google’s monopoly.

Restrictions on Google’s monopoly or divestment in operations could bring more competition from other AI-powered search options such as OpenAI’s SearchGPT. Microsoft has also been incorporating AI into its search.

If Microsoft gains a bigger market share, the adoption of AI in internet searches will revolutionise search engines. In 1999, Microsoft’s anti-trust case found that the tech giant was monopolising the web app market by intertwining the Windows with Internet Explorer. Microsoft had to settle, and the court ruling imposed restrictions to prevent monopolization.

Digital advertising will also change considering Google has monopoly over the market. If remedial practices are enforced by the court, they might cause a shift in digital advertising, including the types of ads consumers see and their relevancy, according to a report by TechTarget.

The entry of new competitors will give consumers more options about what they want to use, which will help them understand about privacy policies and make informed decisions.

What Are The Remedies Issued By DOJ?

The DOJ said in the filing it was “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants.”

The remedies also include “preventing and restraining recurrence of the same offense of illegal monopoly maintenance going forward,” and limiting default and preinstallation agreements with companies such as Apple.

The remedies will address four concerns—search distribution and revenue sharing, generation and display of search results, advertising scale and monetization and accumulation and use of data.