Key Takeaways
- The DOJ may push Google to sell Chrome to break the search monopoly.
- There could be other solutions tied to the agreement, like data licensing requirements.
- Nothing is set, but other solutions could be presented as well.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Google leads the way in search engine market share, holding nearly 90% in 2024. And over the years, it’s done a lot of things in order to keep itself ahead of the competition, like throwing billions of dollars at Apple and Samsung in order to remain as the default search engine on its devices.
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And while Google’s dominance in this space might seem trivial, back in August, the federal court ruled that Google is a monopolist in the search engine market, utilizing illegal and anticompetitive practices to maintain its edge over the competition. At the time, the Department of Justice (DOJ) didn’t have a clear solution on how to approach this situation, but there were early considerations to break up the search company.
A big move that could have resounding effects
While the writing has been on the wall for some months, we’re now getting clearer information about the Google situation, with Bloomberg reporting that the DOJ will now “push Google to sell Chrome” in order to break up its search monopoly. While nothing concrete has been revealed yet, we could hear official words as early as Wednesday.
Bloomberg reports that “antitrust officials, along with states that have joined the case, also plan to recommend Wednesday that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements.” Judge Amit Mehta was the one that brought the original ruling in this case and, if accepted, the decision could have a huge impact not only on the tech industry, but other interconnected industries as well.
If this were to become reality, it would require Google to take more care when it provides its results and would allow websites to have more control over its content and how it’s used by Google. In addition, there could also be requests submitted that will extend to Google’s AI and Android platforms as well. There could even be requests for Google to create more distinction between Android and its other products.
In this day and age, data is king. And as you can imagine, the amount of data that Google can obtain through its Search is unparalleled, especially considering the earlier number where nearly 90% of the world uses this tool for search. Naturally, this information is valuable for the brand’s ad business, which can better target products and services using this same data.
This data set provides a huge advantage over competitors in the market like Bing. Naturally, Google has commented that this kind of move could hurt consumers as well as developers. And sure, it could have a huge ripple effect on places that we can’t even imagine, but the bottom line here is that Google is concerned with its business and how this change will affect that.
As stated before, nothing is set in stone yet, and there could be other solutions recommended that could mitigate the need for Google to sell off Chrome. Of course, this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight, and the final ruling will come sometime next year with the source stating that a final ruling will most likely arrive in August 2025. But if Google is forced to sell off its search engine, who would be able to buy it without causing too much friction?
