Legal filings reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday indicate that last September’s ruling, which basically allowed Google to continue the monopoly without significant consequences, may be taken another look at. The entity that originally filed the lawsuit against Google, which included several states and the Justice Department, is appealing that decision. Should this make you optimistic? Probably not, but at least it’s happening.
In August 2024, District Judge Amit P. Mehta surprised many by ruling that Google is a monopolist. It was determined that Google had acted illegally to maintain its hold on the search market.
Google controls 90% of the search engine market, and is that how it stays on top by being the best? Realistically, you probably answered that question with “No!” or “No more!” Google results pages are full of spam and AI output which Americans are not big fans of, although they also report reading them without checking the source articles from which they are taken.
Google retains its crown through some very ugly, but real, payola deals — like $20 billion to Apple and $8 billion to Samsung over four years — that required hardware makers to make Google the default search engine on the gadget you’re probably using to read this article.
Given that Google has been determined as a monopoly by legal decision, some appropriate measures may force Google to end this pay-to-play practice. It could also be forced to sell Chrome, its most popular internet browser.
But without much thought, we came up with a decision that might have been better than the best-case scenario Google had in mind: forcing it to share some of its search data with competitors, and limiting the exclusivity of its payment deals with companies like Apple and Samsung while still allowing such exclusivity deals (as the New York Times notes, this part was both generous and misleading).
So what does the appeal mean? Honestly, what it means is that normal and predictable things are happening in response to a big decision. It takes about a year for the U.S. Court of Appeals for DC to make a decision after a case reaches this point. The original remedies the monopoly-haters wanted, the forced sale of Chrome, or a ban on search payola deals, are theoretically back on the table. But in the event of a decision granting harsher measures, it would certainly be Alphabet Inc.’s prerogative to continue the appeal process.
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