As a result of illegal monopolistic actions in the search market, Google and Chrome, the largest search engine and browser in the world, could be separated. The US government is calling for secession after a groundbreaking ruling.
After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.
The federal judge came to this conclusion in August Amit Mehtawhich attested to Google’s supremacy in the search market and the unfair strengthening of it in the proceedings against the US Department of Justice (DOJ). After the verdict, there were no concrete consequences for the Alphabet subsidiary. But months ago there was talk of a partial break-up of Google. Initially it was only decided that Google could be held liable. Now, according to Bloomberg, the DOJ is demanding the Selling Google Chrometo limit Google’s monopoly position.
US court:
Google holds a monopoly in the search engine and search ad market
– will destruction follow?
What happens now with Google and Chrome? Further DOJ demands
It was already announced in October that the DOJ would demand a specific separation of Google’s business. The authority should present concrete plans for this by November 20th. There are those now. Accordingly, Chrome, the world’s most used browser and a central touchpoint for Internet searches with Google, is to be split off from Google itself. The DOJ will submit this proposal to Federal Judge Mehta. Additionally, the US Department of Justice is proposing to require Google to license search results and Chrome data, while also calling for more options for website operators to stop crawling and scraping of content by Google’s AI systems. Robots.txt, for example, is currently available for this purpose, although Google is exploring alternatives. One has already been made available with Google Extended in 2023.
If Google implements measures to promote competition, the court could later decide whether a Chrome sale is actually necessary, according to sources close to the company cited by Bloomberg. However, a spin-off from Android, which was also being discussed, was not an option for the DOJ. However, a separation from the apps is still up for debate.
Google has already responded to the latest developments with a statement indicating rejection. It talks about an agenda that wants to harm Google and its users and goes beyond the legal dispute. The hearing regarding the consequences that could affect Google after the monopoly ruling is not expected until 2025 – a final decision much later.
Court must decide in a few months – Google continues to dominate
If there is a big sale of Chrome, the question still arises as to who could take over the browser. In terms of antitrust law, integration with other big players such as Amazon, Microsoft or Meta is likely to be problematic. By then, Google will do a lot to avert such a decision and, with a new US government and possible changes in the US digital space, the prospects may be different than in 2024. For the industry it’s time to wait and see. At the same time, Google will make a huge amount of money in the fourth quarter with Chrome, search and many other services. Alone in third quarter of 2024 Alphabet generated $65.9 billion from advertising alone, including $49.4 billion from Google Search & others. Current search innovations such as AI Overviews and Circle to Search Music continue to promote search behavior on Google, says CEO Sundar Pichai noted:
(…) In Search, recent advancements, including AI Overviews, Circle to Search, and new features in Lens, are transforming the user experience, expanding what people can search for and how they search for it. This leads to users coming to Search more often for more of their information needs, driving additional search queries (…).
USA:
Next step towards breaking up Google
Source: onlinemarketing.de
