Judge Tentatively Orders Google to Change Business Practices, Share Data with Competitors to Prevent Anticompetitive Behavior
Tech conglomerate Google faces potential changes in its business practices following a tentative ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta aimed at preventing anticompetitive behavior.
On Tuesday, the judge outlined remedies that would prohibit Google from entering or maintaining exclusive deals linking the distribution of Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or Gemini with other apps or revenue arrangements. This includes the inability to condition Play Store licensing on the distribution of specific apps, and tying revenue-share payments to keeping certain apps.
Moreover, Google will be required to share certain search index and user-interaction data with “qualified competitors” to prevent exclusionary behavior, and offer search and search ad syndication services at standard rates so competitors can deliver quality results while developing their own technology.
Although a final judgment has not yet been issued, Judge Mehta ordered Google and the Department of Justice to engage in discussions and submit a revised final judgment by September 10 that aligns with his opinion.
The proposed behavioral remedies come a year after Mehta determined that Google had acted illegally to preserve its monopoly in online search. A technical committee will be established to help enforce the final judgment, which will last six years and take effect 60 days after it is entered.
Initially, the Department of Justice sought stronger penalties, including forcing Google to divest its Chrome browser and possibly Android, and terminating agreements with Apple, Samsung, and other partners that saw the tech giant pay billions for its search engine to be the default choice on their devices and web browsers.
The DOJ also requested that Judge Mehta compel Google to share its search index, user-side data, synthetic queries, and ads data with competitors under privacy-protected terms.
Google, which has maintained a dominant 90% market share in the traditional search market for the past decade, argues that the government’s proposals could stifle innovation, jeopardize user privacy, and hinder the company’s ability to invest in R&D. CEO Sundar Pichai expressed concerns during the remedies hearing in April that forced data-sharing would effectively result in a “de facto divestiture” for Google Search.
The decision by Judge Mehta may influence the outcome of a separate antitrust trial involving Google’s advertising technology business, which found Google illegally monopolized ad-tech markets in April 2021. The remedies trial is scheduled for late September and will focus on the DOJ’s proposed divestitures and other measures.
“We’ve never had a circumstance in which the Department of Justice has had two largely parallel cases involving major elements of alleged misconduct against the same dominant firm with two parallel remedy processes moving forward,” said William Kovacic, a global competition law professor at George Washington University and former Federal Trade Commission commissioner.
Kovacic added that although Mehta has released his much-anticipated remedies, “there are many acts to this play to go” in the form of Google’s appeal and potential escalation to the Supreme Court. “It won’t be over until late 2027 or early 2028,” he said.
This story is still developing; check back for updates.
