For most of human history, an enchanted box that contained all knowledge and answered all questions would’ve been the stuff of allegory. For modern internet users, Google is one more thing to take for granted. Just consider how aggressively the Department of Justice has been trying to break up the company.
A federal judge ruled last year that Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., had unlawfully wielded its market power when signing agreements with distributors such as Apple Inc. and Mozilla Corp. to use its search engine as a default in their operating systems or browsers. The decision was rather puzzling, as those contracts were nonexclusive, competitively negotiated and enabled users to switch search engines with trivial ease. But even if one agreed with the ruling, it left a crucial question: What should be done?
The two sides have spent the past few weeks haggling over that in court. The Justice Department has proposed forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser and license its search data to competitors. Google says either course would cause outsized harm. (It plans to appeal.) As the judge ponders potential remedies, he should bear two questions in mind: What problem would any proposed solution solve? And how would it benefit consumers?
An injunction that simply bars Google from engaging in such contracts might be the least harmful outcome. To be clear, such a ruling would still have adverse consequences: Mozilla, which relies on Google’s contracts for 85% of its revenue, may go out of business, as one of its executives has testified; Apple may have to raise prices significantly. But at least such a remedy would address the conduct at issue.
The Justice Department’s proposals, by contrast, are almost completely untethered to the facts of this case. Spinning off Chrome might impede Google’s ability to integrate data across its products, but it would do little to invigorate the search market. A new proprietor of Chrome would have every incentive to keep offering Google search as a default. Indeed, when given the choice, as is required in Europe, users still choose Google overwhelmingly.
