On 20th November 2024 the US Department of Justice released a Proposed Final Judgment in its antitrust case against Google looking at its monopoly in Search and the remedies that should be imposed. MOW has prepared its own summary of the DOJ’s proposed final judgment and the full initial proposed judgment order that identifies the key points.
Whilst many commentators have focused on the judgment’s headline finding that Google must divest its Chrome browser, the document in fact goes much further in proposing actions to limit Google’s ability to monopolise the search market in future.
- AI – The judgment demands that Google must divest any ‘investment, holding, or interest in any Competitor, any company that controls a Search Access Point or an AI Product, or in any technologies, such as AI Products, that are potential entrants into the GSE or Search Text Ads markets’ within six months. With AI long predicted to be the next battle ground for search, this will have a massive impact on Google and the emergent AI market.
- Distribution agreements – One of the key topics in the search trial was Google’s distribution agreements with the likes of Apple that ensured default placement for Chrome on devices. The judgment prevents Google from entering revenue sharing agreements related to the distribution of search services.
- Android – Whilst divestiture of Android is not mandated in the judgment, it is possible as a further contingent structural relief if the proposed remedies are not effective or if Google attempts to circumvent the remedy package.
- Data sharing – The judgment recognises that Google’s monopoly power is supported by the vast troves of data that it has acquired through its illegal dominance. To remedy this, it proposes that Google be forced to share data with ‘qualified competitors’. This includes user side data as well as access to its search index, enabling competition to develop in search and search ads. Google has already criticized this as a threat to user privacy but the DOJ has foreseen this and prohibits Google from using and retaining any data to which access cannot be provided based on privacy concerns. This will fundamentally level the playing field.
- Privacy Sandbox – Whilst not mentioned directly in the judgment, the proposed remedies raise an enormous question mark over the future of Google’s Privacy Sandbox project. If Google is to divest Chrome then the imposition of Sandbox – which bundles Google’s Ad Systems inside the browser and exclusively works with its publisher ad server as the final auction – would make little sense. MOW believes that the DOJ should be considering requesting Google to halt the implementation of this project until the judgment is finalized.