Google has proposed measures to fix its own anti-competitive behavior just months after a US district court found it guilty of illegally monopolizing the online search engine market.
The proposed fixes are primarily directed at Google’s search distribution agreements with Android phone makers, browser companies, and wireless carriers, according to a blog post by Lee-Ann Mulholland, Google’s VP of regulatory affairs.
Declaring that it still plans to appeal Judge Amit Mehta’s landmark antitrust ruling, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the company said that “the legal process will allow the parties to determine what remedies will best respond.” It is necessary to outline the decision of the court.”
This follows the US Justice Department’s own list of remedies to correct Google’s illegal antitrust practices, starting with the company divesting Chrome.
What changes is Google proposing?
As part of its offering, smartphone makers don’t have to pre-load Chrome as a pre-requisite for Google Play or other Google apps to be pre-loaded on Android devices. “This will give our partners more flexibility and give our competitors like Microsoft more opportunity to bid for the placement,” the company said.
Coming after Apple and Mozilla, Google said it would allow such browser developer companies to “make multiple default agreements (eg, different default search engines for iPhones and iPads) and browsing modes across different platforms.”
They will also have the option to change the default search provider in their respective browsers at least every 12 months, it added.
In its decision, the court found that Google pays Apple more in revenue sharing than it pays to all other partners combined, thus keeping the iPhone maker at the edge of the search market.
“The prospect of losing tens of billions in guaranteed revenue from Google — which currently comes at little or no cost to Apple — discourages Apple from launching its own search engine when it has built the capacity to do so,” the order said.
Although the proposed measure could free Apple to compete with Google in the search engine market, it seems that the iPhone maker is not willing to do so. Instead, Apple intends to participate in upcoming court hearings to defend the revenue sharing agreement, Reuters Reported.
In response to the DOJ’s concern that Google could strike deals to ensure the AI model Gemini is pre-loaded on Android phones, the search giant’s proposal states that “Android partners may license Google Play, Search, and/or Chrome without a license from Google.” Gemini Assistant Mobile App.
Specifically, Google has suggested that these restrictions last for three years, which is much shorter than the ten years proposed by the DOJ.
What does the DOJ want?
The US Department of Justice has asked a court to sell Google its flagship web browser, Chrome.
It suggested the tech giant “should be prohibited from acquiring or acquiring any investment or interest in any search or search text advertising competitor, search distributor, or rival query-based AI product or advertising technology.”
Furthermore, the DOJ proposed that Google should be prohibited from entering into exclusive agreements with content publishers (such as news websites) and from acquiring its competitors or potential competitors in the general search domain without prior approval.
The legal filing also challenged the possibility of removing Google from Android to prevent it from using the mobile operating system to box out rival search providers.
Other measures proposed by the DOJ include banning the company from prioritizing its search engine over other Google-owned platforms such as YouTube and Gemini, giving competitors access to valuable search data such as ranking signals, US-generated query data, and its search index. A “marginal cost, and on an ongoing basis”, and allowing users to opt out of its AI viewing feature.
What will happen next in the battle of distrust?
If the court accepts the DOJ’s proposal, Google could face a major restructuring that could have a major impact on its revenue model. On the other hand, if the court accepts the measures proposed by Google, the company’s core business will remain intact, but it will end the long-standing multi-billion dollar settlement with Apple.
A two-week trial of treatments proposed by both sides is scheduled to begin in April 2025.
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