Early last August, the US Department of Justice issued a ruling that would change the shape of the Internet as we know it today, in the historic case of the US government against Google, as it accused the latter of being a company that monopolizes the search engine sector, as well as taking steps to prevent competitors from entering this sector. The sector directly, and although the ruling was issued at the time, the consequences of this ruling did not appear until today.
The Ministry of Justice issued a statement talking about the consequences of the ruling previously issued against the company, in which the Ministry of Justice lawyer indicated the possibility of dismantling the company and forcing it to sell some of its subsidiaries, such as “Chrome” and “Android,” so that ownership of these services is transferred to other companies, as well as some Additional measures to ensure antitrust and provide a fair opportunity for all search engines to reach users.
But why did the Ministry of Justice take such a decision? How might the dismantling of Google affect the lives of users and their experience with its systems around the world?
Structural and behavioral changes
In a 32-page memorandum, the US Department of Justice clarified its intentions with Google after it was proven that it monopolizes the search engine market around the world, and because the company is primarily American, it is of course subject to US government regulations.
The Ministry of Justice described these changes as structural and behavioral remedies in order to stop the company’s monopoly mechanisms, as well as providing the opportunity for competitors from different parts of the world to access the search engine sector and benefit from it. At the forefront of these remedies was the dismantling and separation of Google services to become separate companies that are not affiliated with the parent company. itself, i.e. selling these services and newly established companies.
The memorandum then referred directly to the “Chrome” browser services, the “Play Store” application store services, and the “Android” system, as well as the search engine, and confirmed that these services were designed in a way that encourages the use of other Google products, such as the search engine or artificial intelligence technologies and cloud storage. of the company.
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The memo also touched on Google’s search engine being the default choice for the search engine on mobile phones, a deal in which Google pays hundreds of billions of dollars to mobile phone manufacturers such as “Apple“and”Samsung“, which is what prompted the US government to file the case in the first place, and the memorandum is based on the fact that Google’s monopolistic policies contributed to enhancing its profits in a way that made it able to pay the value of these deals, which is not available to other competitors.
The memorandum also included provisions about the search engine and the unique features that make it the first choice for users around the world, and added that Google may have to make some of the corners of the search engine and the algorithms in which it operates an open source model that any competitor can access and reuse. In the end, the memorandum confirmed that these treatments The procedures will be under the supervision of an American federal judge to ensure their implementation and not evasion.
It is worth noting that all of these measures are merely suggestions reviewed by the US Department of Justice and are not final decisions, as the final decision is expected to be issued next November, meaning that Google and the US government still have sufficient time to review these steps and decide whether they are being used or not.
Exceeding legal limits in monopoly cases
Google’s response to the Ministry of Justice memo was not long in coming, as Lee Ann Molland, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs, came out in a lengthy post on Google’s official blog, to provide an appropriate response to the memo, and the response included many aspects that represent points that must be considered.
First, Mololand pointed out that dismantling Google services would only directly harm users, as it would leave them vulnerable to the aggressive financial policies of other companies, and that transferring the “Chrome” browser, the “Play” store, or the entire “Android” operating system to other companies opens the way for this. Companies to convert these services into paid services, because few companies are willing to make their services available for free as Google does.
Mololand continued her talk about Google’s various services, saying that they are projects that the company spent a long time developing and spent a lot to reach the form it is in today, and that they are all projects that help the world and hundreds of millions of users around the world to access and use the Internet for free.
In the end, Mololand concluded the post by talking about the legitimacy of these measures that the Ministry of Justice is trying to impose on Google, noting that the case in which the ruling was issued relates to the search engine’s monopolistic policies with phone developers, and is not related to the company’s mechanisms and software in general, so the hint is to take a decision to dismantle Google. Google or making the search engine algorithm available to various companies around the world goes outside the legal scope of the case and the Ministry of Justice in a way that makes the Ministry appear intent on destroying Google without considering the legality of what it is doing.
Of course, Google intends to file a grievance in the federal courts in a final attempt to stop the implementation of these laws, as well as to delay their implementation as much as possible, in an attempt to escape the implementation of the law and significantly lose its business. In a completely separate case, the Google Play Store was sentenced, as Google must provide a competing option and another store to download applications on Android phones, in addition to Google Play.
Open source kernels
The US Department of Justice may see that Google’s products eliminate the competition in front of it, and although it believes that Google is responsible for developing these products, what the search giant is doing is improving the basic product to make it suitable for use.
In essence, Google’s various products are open source, whether it is the “Google Chrome” browser, which is based on the open source “Chromium” kernel, or even the “Android” system, which is one of the versions of “Linux” intended for mobile phones. Indeed, “Android” even today. It is an open source system that any company can download and use.
When searching online, you can easily find many popular browsers that use the open source “Chromium” kernel, such as “Firefox” and “ARC” or even the “Microsoft Edge” browser, as well as the “Harmony” operating system that it boasts. “Huawei” is, in essence, the “Android” system, but without Google services.
What distinguishes Google’s version of these services is the company’s great support for them and spending a lot of money to develop them for free, which makes the “Chrome” browser the first choice for many, as is the case with “Android with Google services,” so competing with these products is not difficult. Or impossible, but it requires very significant funding and effort.
Is the Google empire really ending?
The American “CNBC” website published a report in which it talked about the case, and cited some legal experts in order to form a more in-depth understanding of the case and its consequences. According to what was stated in the site’s report, the process of dismantling Google and then selling its component parts is extremely unlikely, and perhaps It doesn’t happen at all.
But it is certain that the court will establish a set of laws and requirements to prevent monopoly, as well as terminate contracts that require mobile phones to use Google. Instead, the phone offers a set of options for different search engines competing with the company.
When looking at the Google empire and its parent company, Alphabet, it is important to note the time it took the company to build this empire, as well as the continuous development processes that various products undergo, including the Android operating system, which has made it now. It controls more than 70% of the mobile phone sector With only 27% for its most prominent competitor, “Apple,” according to statistics from the “Statista” website.
If the company is judged to dismantle its components, this means the collapse of the small components that were able to rise to the top of its various sectors. While the “Google Chrome” browser now appears to be the most powerful browser on the Internet, this position was achieved thanks to Google’s support for developers and for the browser in general. The same applies to Android and other services provided by Google.
The scenario that happened with Huawei smart phones at the beginning of US sanctions on them is the best evidence of this matter. While the company was able to access the Android operating system in its raw form unaffected by Google services, it suffered a lot until it was able to provide alternative services and began… Gradually it returns to the scene with great resistance from different markets.
Even in this case, trying to provide alternative services to Google services cost the company a lot and took a long time until it was able to reach results that could be said to be as realistic as possible and made the phones usable.
The search engine is the ultimate goal
The Ministry of Justice memo included some points about the Google search engine, and these points may be the essence and primary purpose of the memo, as the Ministry of Justice intends to ban Google from using paid deals and private sponsorship contracts to make its search engine the default on any operating system or smart device, whether Phone or computer.
Preventing Google from accessing these contracts, as well as forcing phone makers to leave the option open to users, means giving competing engines the opportunity to reach users, which is what Microsoft’s Bing search engine or even emerging search engines like DuckDuck need. Duck Duck Go or Brave, and it is worth noting that the Google search engine alone accounts for more than 90% of search engines. Total searches in various parts of the worldIt is responsible for generating profits of more than $48 billion for the parent company, Alphabet, or 57% of its total annual profits.
Opening the market and supporting competition for Google is perhaps the most logical step for the US Department of Justice, as the search sector is the only sector in which Google cannot currently compete directly without external support coming from the US government, and it is also the sector in which competitors offer alternative options. Really about Google.
Although the search giant will not reveal its secrets or the secret algorithms that make it superior to competitors, the era in which Google dominates the world of search engines is coming to an end.
