Federal Judge Rules Google Can Keep Chrome Browser

What Happened?

In a landmark anti-trust case, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google can retain ownership of the Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts. The U.S. Department of Justice had sought to force Google to divest Chrome, but according to the court ruling ‘Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment.’

Following the news of the court decision in Google’s favor, Google stock rose by eight percentage points. Google responded to the court ruling in a blog post stating that, ‘Now the Court has imposed limits on how we distribute Google services and will require us to share search data with rivals.’

Why it Matters

Foremost, the ruling means there will not be a company breakup of Google. Despite that, the Department of Justice issued a press release in response to the court ruling, saying ‘The court’s ruling today recognizes the need for remedies that will pry open the market for general search services, which has been frozen in place for over a decade.’ 

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In their lawsuit, the Department of Justice had asked the courts to stop Google’s practice of ‘compelled syndication.’ Which meant Google would make deals with specific companies in order to guarantee Google’s search engine would be the default choice for browsers and smartphones.

According to Rebecca Bellan of TechCrunch, to comply with the ruling Google will now have to share certain search index and user-interaction data with ‘qualified competitors’ to prevent exclusionary behavior. In addition, Google will be required to offer search and search ad syndication services to competitors at standard rates so they can deliver quality results while building their own technology.

‘The emergence of generative AI changed the course of this case,’ Judge Mehta wrote in his ruling. When the case was first brought to court in 2020, programs capable of producing generative AI were not widely available to the public. That changed in 2022 with Open AI’s release of Chat GPT, which in just the past three years has changed the way millions of people use the internet.

With more users flocking to AI programs like Chat GPT to conduct web searches, Google’s dominance as the main search engine for the internet has been diminished. Google is still a major search provider, but it is no longer the only option for web users looking for information online.

How it Affects You

The ruling is a win for Google and the tech industry.  But by barring Google from exclusive contracts, the court ruling will give partners more leverage to seek alternative deals with other companies. That could increase competition and ultimately result in better options for web users.  

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