We are continuing to follow the ongoing battle between the Department of Justice and Google after a judge decided that Google is a monopolist in how it distributes Google Search. In October, the DOJ filed a broad outline for proposals it thought a judge should consider when making a final ruling, including taking Chrome (and Android) away from Google. This week, they refined their proposals and filed them with the court.
In their latest filing, the Department of Justice is hoping that a judge will ask Google to selloff or spin out Chrome, because it believes this is one of the key access points for people looking to search on the web. The other piece that might shock you some is in the idea that they could also ask Google to push Android out of their control, although they haven’t specifically demanded that happen yet.
Google had a response ready, as you can imagine, and suggested the DOJ has chosen to “push a radical interventionist agenda” that would harm America’s global technology leadership. They went so far as to say these recommendations by the DOJ would “break a range of Google products” beyond just Search, would “chill” their investment in AI, making accessing search a pain in the ass for people, and allow the government to micromanage Search.
At this point, we are months away from any decisions on this and Google gets to file their own proposals next month. Both Google and the DOJ will make final cases next year when a judge determines an appropriate course of action.
Next year could change the course of the internet and your smartphone, depending on where this judge is leaning. We should all keep our eyes on April 2025.