Chrome Stays in the Castle: Google Wins Big in Antitrust Court

After many reports suggesting that Google would be forced to sell Chrome due to US laws involving monopoly, there is relief. According to a new report, Google avoided the sentence and won't lose one of its most important services. The search giant will need to make some concessions, but will be able to keep its popular web browser under its wings. According to Bloomberg, this was "the biggest US antitrust case in almost three decades", but still ended favorably for the giant.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Google of having an illegal monopoly on the search engine market. DOJ's suggested remedy for that was to divest Chrome. Some companies even made offers, like Perplexity AI, that offered about $34.5 billion for one of the world's most popular web browsers. That won't happen, according to the judge.

Google will need to share some of its online search data with rivals - this may include Microsoft's Bing and DuckDuckGo, as well as AI companies that siphon off as much online data as possible. Furthermore, Google will be allowed to keep paying other companies to be the default search engine on their platforms. That was a practice that the DOJ tried to end, but will stay alive. This is good for Apple, which receives about $20 billion every year just to keep Google as the default search engine on iPhones.

However, Apple will have to do more to promote alternative engines. Also, web browsers will be allowed to have a different default for privacy mode. The ruling, of course, not only affects Apple. Some Android makers will also see changes. So far, Google has been requiring phone makers to install the full Google App suite (GAPPs) to gain access to Google Play Services. From now on, makers will be able to install only the Google Play Store. This will reduce bloatware for smartphone makers that keep their own versions of basic apps.