Following a court ruling that Google has abused its monopoly in search and online advertising, the judge in the case will consider proposed remedies from both the US Department of Justice as well as Google.
The DOJ originally brought an antitrust action against Google in late 2023 over its deals with Apple and others to make Google Search the default search engine in other browsers and platforms.
Judge Amit Mehta of the DC United States District Court ruled in August 2024 that Google is a monopolist. While it is not illegal for an entity to become a monopoly in its field, it is unlawful for a monopoly to limit consumer choice by creating barriers to fair competition.
The remedy filing from the DOJ, as noted by the Washington Post on March 7, demands that the court force Google to sell off its Chrome browser. It also asks the court to end deals with rivals such as Apple to make Google the default search engine on the iPhone and other devices.
DOJ proposal will also hurt others as well as Google
The Department of Justice seeks to stop Google from effectively bribing companies such as Apple, Mozilla, and smartphone companies with billions of dollars in order to make its search engine the default. The department has not changed its position on the matter since the change of administration in the federal government in January.
Apple Park. Image source: Apple
The case brought by the DOJ is in spite of efforts by tech companies to curry favor with the new administration. Google, like Apple and other tech giants, contributed to President Trump’s inauguration in January. This has resulted in an inquiry in the US Senate over the donations.
The DOJ did, however, recently remove a demand that Google also divest its holdings in AI startups such as Anthropic, following Anthropic telling the government that it relies on Google’s money to stay in operation. Apple’s Eddy Cue testified in defending Apple’s arrangement with Google that Apple has no interest in building its own search engine.
Although it has backed off the divestment demand, the Justice Department has still requested that the judge require Google to notify government officials ahead of making new investments in Anthropic or other companies. Google has also offered its own set of proposed remedies to the judge in a separate filing.
Apple could lose a lucrative deal
Apple isn’t the only company that accepts payment from Google to make Chrome the default search engine, but it is likely fetching the highest price. In 2022, Google’s parent company Alphabet paid Apple $20 billion to be the default search engine via a 36 percent commission on ad revenue generated from Safari search result advertising.
Apple has tried to participate in the remedy process as the results would affect its business, but Judge Mehta ruled that Apple waited until it was “too late” to intervene. The judge turned down Apple’s efforts to propose alternate remedies, saying it should have known when the case was originally filed in 2020 that the outcome could affect its business.
The judge also noted that if it were to grant Apple the right to file its own proposals, the court would have to allow all other affected companies to do the same. Judge Mehta hopes to conclude the case by August 2025.
Apple has also filed a concurrent motion for delay in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, anticipating that Google will appeal the judge’s ruling. The iPhone maker argued that the current court decision would cause the company “clear and substantial, irreparable harm” and would affect both its users and Apple’s entitlement to compensation for distributing Google search.
Judge Mehta will hear both the government’s and Google’s case for remedies in a hearing expected to take place in April, and will make a ruling on remedies sometime after that hearing.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
