A US judge ruled that Google is a monopolist and has illegally maintained its monopoly in search. Despite that finding, Google will retain its Chrome browser and will not face a fundamental downsizing. A divestiture of Android appears unlikely. The DOJ had pushed for more radical remedies, including divesting Chrome, while Google contends that it alone can manage the browser. Remedies were designed to reduce competitive distortions and to prevent Google's dominance from spilling into GenAI and other technological domains. The ruling aims to promote competition among general search engines and acknowledges that AI-driven search products are changing the landscape.
Last year, US judge Amit P. Mehta called Google a monopolist. On Tuesday, the judge reiterated in a new ruling that the company has illegally maintained a monopoly. But despite this fact, the company will retain one of its crown jewels: the Chrome browser. The court ruling means that Google does not have to fundamentally downsize. The divestiture of Android also seems to be off the table.
The suggested changes have been carefully designed not only to address the distortion of competition, but also to prevent Google's power from extending into new technological domains such as GenAI. In other words, the ruling is not the earth-shattering event it could have been. AI search receives special attention Judge Mehta's remedy ruling remains harsh on Google. Still, he acknowledges that the world of search engines has changed significantly.
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