U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.
The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.
Here's what it all means:
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump’s first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.
“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.”
Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision,” Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. “It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”
It’s still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump takes the widely expected step of replacing Jonathan Kanter, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to oversee the agency’s antitrust division.
Regulators want Google to sell off its industry-leading Chrome web browser, though the filing did not specify who would ultimately buy the business or how that process would work.
Justice lawyers called Chrome a “gateway to the internet” that provides the search giant with data it then uses for targeted advertising. Regulators believe that asking Google to divest Chrome would create a more equal playing field for search competitors.
Chrome also is included in the set of apps bundled with Android on phones as part of a mobile device ecosystem that regulators say gives Google a big edge.
Chrome is the world’s most popular mobile web browser, with about 67% adoption globally, according to StatCounter. Apple’s Safari browser has the next highest adoption at 18%.
Although it could be years before we see any practical effects of this case on the market, it could mean users would see more search engine options when selecting a default one to use on their favored devices.
While federal regulators aren't going as far as to demand Google spin off Android, they are leaving the door open.
The government asked the judge to impose behavioral limitations that would essentially blunt Android from favoring Google’s own general search services.
Regulators asserted U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta should make it clear that Google could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if the other proposed measures prove ineffective at restoring competition to the search market.
Android is the world's most popular smartphone operating system, found on 71% of mobile phones, Statcounter says. It’s free to use, so many devices by Samsung and many other tech companies — aside from Apple — have it pre-installed.
The Justice Department outlined a range of behavioral measures to give rival search engines a better chance at competing with Google.
The core remedy is a ban on Google from cutting deals worth billions of dollars to lock in its search engine as the default option on Apple’s iPhone and other popular devices. This could potentially impact the bottom line at companies receiving such packages.
Other key recommendations:
Google has the chance to submit its own list of proposed fixes in December, and federal regulators will file a revised version of their proposals in early March. Court hearings on these proposed measures are scheduled to begin in April and Mehta is expected to issue a final decision before Labor Day.
The remedies trial will take place after the Trump administration takes over from Biden in January and assumes oversight of the Department of Justice, which could impact the punishments it ultimately pursues.
Although Trump has made comments suggesting a breakup of Google isn't in the U.S. national interest, recent nominations put forward by his transition team have favored those who have been critical of Big Tech companies. And the case was originally filed during Trump's first term, which suggests Google won’t be entirely off the hook.
Google is expected to appeal the case after the remedy hearings, which means the case could drag on for years in the courts.
FILE - The Google building is seen in New York, Feb. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - Google CEO Sundar Pichai leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Former Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who took over the office to become the second female governor in state history after her predecessor resigned amid a corruption scandal, has died. She was 78.
Rell died Wednesday at a Florida hospital following a brief illness, her family said in a statement Thursday morning.
Rell, a Republican who was born in Virginia and moved to Brookfield, Connecticut in 1969, served from 2004 until 2011. Known for her candor and compassion — she would personally call people whenever they were facing difficult times — Rell was lieutenant governor and took on the governorship during a challenging period for the state. Gov. John G. Rowland was under federal investigation and faced impeachment.
Rowland ultimately pleaded guilty to a single federal corruption count and served 10 months in prison.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2010, when she prepared to leave office, Rell pointed to her early efforts to “restore honor to the state of Connecticut” as one of her major accomplishments.
“Our state had been through so much. And what we really needed to do, what we needed at the time, was to move on, to once again make our residents proud of our state government,” Rell said, adding how her administration worked to reform the state’s campaign finance laws, impose standards for state contracts, and overhaul the state’s ethics commission.
Rell was lauded Thursday by figures in both major parties, including her successor, Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat. “She steadied the ship, and returned a sense of decency and honesty to state government at a time when both were sorely needed,” he said in a statement.
Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto, who worked with Rell on screening bills when he was a young attorney with the House Republican caucus when she was a state representative, said Rell became governor “almost reluctantly and at a time of great turmoil” but managed to bring “a level of calm and focus” to the state Capitol and the state of Connecticut.
“Governor Rell may have ascended to the office of Governor during a tumultuous time, but her calm demeanor, her knowledge of state government, her political acumen and her southern charm, won over many critics and helped put Connecticut back on track," Proto said in a statement. “Governor M. Jodi Rell was the exact right person to lead our state at that time.”
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday ordered flags to be lowered in honor of Rell. He said Rell, a mother of two and a grandmother of four, represented the “very best of Connecticut values, expanding healthcare and childcare, and making Connecticut one of the first states in the country to recognize same-sex unions.” In 2005, Rell signed legislation making Connecticut the first state to institute same-sex civil unions through its legislature and not a court order.
Lamont said he and Rell became good friends after he took office. They appeared on stage together last year at the Gov. M. Jodi Rell Center for Public Service at the University of Hartford to discuss the importance of bipartisanship. The center's mission is to promote ethics in government, the importance of civil discourse in politics and citizen involvement in public service and government.
“Her style of leadership was not fabricated or manipulated in any way. The Jodi Rell that the people of Connecticut saw in public was the Jodi Rell that she was in real life — calm, rational, caring, approachable, and devoted to her family and to her state.”
Rell served as lieutenant governor for 10 years and as a member of the state House for 10 years, representing Brookfield and Bethel. After finishing out Rowland's term, Rell won the 2006 election by a wide margin. She was the state's last GOP governor to date.
Five months after taking office, Rell had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after breast cancer was discovered following a routine mammogram. Nine days after her surgery, Rell returned to the Capitol and was greeted by loud cheers and a long standing ovation when she appeared to deliver her first State of the State address. Many of the lawmakers wore pink ribbons, signifying their support for breast cancer research.
“You know I get embarrassed,” a smiling Rell said, pleading with the crowd to stop the applause.
Known as a moderate Republican who advocated for bipartisanship, both during and after her time in office, Rell made a pointed reference to her illness during that speech when she called for an end to partisan politics.
“I have been unexpectedly confronted with my own mortality as I was told that I had cancer,” she said. “I am looking at things a little differently now, with different eyes. Eyes more focused on what is truly important, what is truly necessary.”
Associated Press Writer Dave Collins contributed to this report.
FILE - Gov. M. Jodi Rell, right, enjoys a laugh as she sits in the driver's seat of a new Homeland Security Vehicle with Dept. of Enviromental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy, left, in Windsor Locks, Conn., June 20, 2005. (AP Photo/ Steven Lee Miller, File)
FILE - Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Relland Natasha Phaneuf wait for Gov. Rell to sign into law a bill establishing a stem cell research fund and banning human cloning at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Conn., June 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)
FILE - Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell hugs Maj. Kevin McMahon, of Old Lyme, Conn., after he and other members of the 118th Medical Battalion of the Connecticut National Guard arrived home in Newington, Conn., Feb. 10, 2005. (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)
FILE - M. Jodi Rell is sworn in as Governor of Connecticut by state Supreme Court Chief Justice William J. Sullivan as her daughter, Meredith O'Connor, center, looks on in a ceremony on the steps of the state Capitol in Hartford, Conn., July 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Bob Child/Pool, File)
FILE - Connecticut Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, speaks to the media after heading up a Bond Commission meeting in Hartford, Conn., June 25, 2004. (AP Photo/Steve Miller, File)
FILE - Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell responds to a question during an interview in her office at the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Dec. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham, File)
FILE - Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell pauses during an interview in her office at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Aug. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
