Google can keep Chrome and Android but must share search data, judge rules
A judge ruled that Google’s parent company Alphabet does not have to sell off its Android operating system or the Chrome internet browser — but ordered the tech giant to share its search data with competitors in order to even the playing field.
In addition, US District Judge Amit Mehta ordered the company to end exclusive deals that make Google the default search engine on phones and devices. Although exclusivity is now forbidden, it can still pay Apple and Samsung to preload its operating systems, AI, and search products onto its devices.
Apple has historically received around US$20 billion a year to exclusively set Google as a the default search engine for its Safari browser on iPhones. It shares rose after news of the ruling hit markets.
Mehta ordered the company to share “certain search index and user interaction data” although not advertising data, with competitors, according to NPR. Google’s adherence to the ruling will be monitored by a technological oversight committee for six years.
While this is seen as a win for Alphabet — whose shares also rose by 6.7% following the judgment — Google CEO Sundar Pichai has previously stated plans to appeal any ruling that forces the company to share search data, or information on how it ranks results.
Google has dodged a bullet
In April, Pichai testified that sharing such data with its rivals would result in a “de facto divestiture of the company’s search engine”, and that competitors could reverse-engineer “every aspect of our technology.”
This stems back to an antitrust suit filed in 2020 by the US Department of Justice, arguing the company had achieved a monopoly in search through exclusivity agreements with major devices makers that prevent fair competition. Last year, the court ruled that Google did have an illegal monopoly.
This April, the DOJ pushed for a number of remedies during a series of hearing in Washington, including the divestment of the company — including its Android and Chrome software — the end of exclusive search engine contracts, and the sharing of its search data.
Pichai agreed to halt Google’s exclusive search contracts, but called the DOJ’s other proposals “far-reaching” and “extraordinary”, arguing such governmental overreach would stifle future innovation.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Mehta agreed, saying ordering the company to sell off Chrome would be “incredibly messy and highly risky.”
He wrote: “The court’s task is to discern between conduct that maintains a monopoly through anticompetitive acts as distinct from ‘growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident’.
“After two complete trials, this court cannot find that Google’s market dominance is sufficiently attributable to its illegal conduct to justify divestiture.”
Given that Google has said previously it will file an appeal, this case is expected to drag out for a number of years.
In addition, Google will again battle the Department of Justice next month, to determine remedies regarding a case in which it was found to have an illegal digital advertising monopoly.
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