Google ‘breakup unlikely’ after monopoly ruling

Google Cloud Partners discusses the impact of a landmark court ruling declaring Google a monopoly in online search, as well as potential penalties related to artificial intelligence and data sharing.

As the US Justice Department looks at ways to deal with Google following a landmark court ruling that found the $85 billion tech giant had a monopoly on online searches, Google’s partners are not convinced there will be any major changes anytime soon.

“We don’t expect this ruling to impact our business at Google anytime soon, if at all,” said a senior executive at a domestic Google Cloud partner, who declined to be named. “This is a major global antitrust case with appeals that will drag on into 2025. Any forced sell-off or major change in technology implementation is years away.”

The CEO added that aside from the fact that Google will likely have to slightly modify its AI innovation roadmap or Chrome browser, it’s business as usual for Google’s 100,000-strong partner community.

“We don’t anticipate any change in the buying patterns of our customers,” said the executive, whose company generates millions of dollars in monthly Google Cloud sales. “I won’t comment on whether Google is a monopoly or not. But in terms of impacting sales to large partners like us, I don’t see anything. … We think it’s unlikely that Google will break up.”

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Potential penalties from Google; Google says it will appeal

The Justice Department is reportedly discussing potential penalties after U.S. Judge Amit Mehta ruled on August 5 that Google illegally monopolized the market for online search and text search ads. The Justice Department is currently consulting with companies affected by Google’s practices to get input on potential remedies.

Potential remedies reportedly include selling or splitting Google’s Android operating system division, AdWords sales platform, or Chrome web browser.

Additionally, the Justice Department could force Google to prohibit it from entering into large exclusive distribution agreements with other companies, force Google to share data with competitors, or create mechanisms to prevent the company from gaining an unfair advantage in artificial intelligence.

Google said it plans to appeal the ruling. The company said its success comes from offering a better product.

“(The DOJ) recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but finds that we shouldn’t be able to easily share it,” Kent Walker, Google’s global president, said in a statement.

Google declined to comment further on the matter.

Google could be forced to share data with Microsoft; Google’s AI may need to change

The Justice Department could order Google to share more data with competitors, including Microsoft’s Bing.

Google could be forced to share its vast data with search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo. Mehta said in his ruling that Google’s deals ensured not only that Chrome would get the most user data — about 16 times more than its closest competitor — but also that the data stream would prevent rivals from improving their own search results.

Additionally, the Department of Justice could prevent Google from forcing companies and websites to allow their content to be used in Google AI products in order to appear in search results.

Google requires websites to allow its AI products to use their content in order to appear in search results. According to Bloomberg, DOJ lawyers have raised the issue that Google’s dominance in search gives it a big advantage in developing AI.

Google will remain the “data champions”

“Listen, Google is constantly changing its search engine to improve itself. Google can present good arguments on appeal that could make another court overturn this entire decision,” said one of the CEOs of Google’s American partner.

“If you break Google’s search technology or force them to change their AI site policies, it would still be hard for other companies like Apple or Microsoft to match Google’s speed,” the CEO said. “That would mean lowering the quality of search for years. I think Google has too many good arguments here.”

The CEO said Google Cloud will likely be able to emerge from “any difficult situation” related to its AI products.

“They can make changes to their AI very quickly. I’m talking about weeks, not months. They’ll find ways to make up for any lost sales or customer confusion,” he said. “They’ll remain the world’s data champions, no matter what happens.”

Google Android OS, Chrome and the Repercussions of Advertising

The Justice Department is also considering other important areas, including forcing Google to divest or sell its Google Ads service, formerly known as AdWords, which is the platform the company uses to sell text ads.

Judge Mehta’s ruling found that Google had monopolized ads that appeared at the top of search engine results pages to drive users to specific sites, known as search engine text ads, which are sold through Google Ads. If the DOJ doesn’t force the AdWords sell-off, it could ask for interoperability measures to enable collaboration with other search engines.

Google’s Chrome web browser could be included in the sale because it is the subject of the ruling.

Finally, Google’s Android operating system runs on approximately 2.5 billion devices worldwide.

Judge Mehta found that Google requires device manufacturers to sign agreements to access its apps, such as Gmail and the Google Play Store. Google reportedly paid companies more than $26 billion to make its search engine the default search engine for other companies’ browsers and devices, with most of the money going to Apple.

Google already found liable, but no penalty yet

In December, a California court found Google liable for “multiple antitrust violations” related to its Google App Store, which monopolized the distribution of Android apps.

“The jury found that Google intentionally acquired or maintained enduring monopolies in the markets for the distribution of Android apps and for Android in-app payment solutions for transactions involving digital goods and services,” the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a letter filed this week. “The jury also found that Google entered into a series of agreements that unreasonably restrained trade in those markets.”

The judge presiding over the case has not yet decided what penalty or relief to impose.

What’s next for Google?

Judge Mehta ordered antitrust regulators and Google to begin planning the second phase of the case, which could include a government proposal to break up the tech giant to restore fair competition.

Google partners said they were not concerned about the court ruling and that any potential impact would have an impact on Google Cloud.

“Google can change. Whatever happens, Google has the ability to change direction and quickly move its cloud and AI technology,” said the CEO of Google’s U.S. partner. “I hope Google remains intact.”