Google won’t have to sell Chrome after all (but there’s a catch)
A federal judge issued a ruling in the case against Google over monopoly allegations. This Tuesday brought both good and bad news for the tech giant. The good news for Google is that it won’t have to sell its Chrome browser, a possibility that seemed very real. Google’s stocks rose after this news was revealed. But the bad news is that Google will have to share data with its competitors and will not be able to sign many of the exclusive contracts that have helped the company dominate the industry.
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The ruling on Tuesday explains that Google will have to share “indexed search and user interaction data, though not advertising data, with qualified competitors”. The ruling also states that “the company is prohibited from establishing or maintaining exclusive contracts related to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app”, although there are provisions that will allow Google to establish contracts to prevent harm to businesses.
What’s Next?
Google is likely to lobby the government behind the scenes with the appeal. Trump is known for meeting regularly with successful businessmen, such as the CEO of Intel and Apple.
Will he do something in favor of Google? The tech giant doesn’t need money injected. But there’s always something to trade. Google contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago shortly after the election.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Google appeals.
