Is Google Losing its Verb Status?
How an Antitrust Case and AI Chatbots Diminish Google's Dominance
The Rundown↓
KNOW that the DOJ still wants Google to sell Chrome, though it’s suggesting they can keep their AI investments.
REALIZE Google has dominated search for years, but the monopoly judgement and rise of AI-driven queries and search is chipping away at its throne.
EXPLORE browsers like Firefox and Brave along with a search alternatives like DuckDuckGo and Brave.
Details↓
Following the anti-trust ruling against Google on August 6, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a proposed judgement this past Friday updating the original proposal we wrote about in November. Notably, they still want Google to sell Chrome, but “no longer seek the mandatory divestiture of Google’s AI investments.” That’s a win for Google who has invested heavily in AI development including Anthropic.
The DOJ kept in place its suggestion that “requires Google to provide rivals and potential rivals both user-side and ads data for a period of ten years, at no cost, on a non-discriminatory basis, and with proper privacy safeguards in place.”
Google’s counter proposal does not include divestments, but instead focuses on constraints on deals that seek self-preference of its search engine on devices. The company has stated numerous times it plans on appealing the August ruling.
Commentary↓
The antitrust lawsuit was first filed on October 20, 2020, and Judge Mehta isn’t expected to reach a remedies decision until summer. As we’ve said before, it’s unlikely Google will sell Chrome anytime soon because the appeals process could take years, and the DOJ is probably aiming for more to settle for less.
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, was one of the tech leaders on stage with Trump during the inauguration, and one might wonder if Google would have more favor under the Trump administration. Other than removing the suggestion of divesting from Google’s AI investments, the proposal largely stayed the same. Lest we forget the antitrust lawsuit was originally filed during Trump’s previous term.
The DOJ also left its ideas regarding “User-side Data” in the proposal. While it expects “proper privacy safeguards” in transferring data, it’s unsettling to think that Google could be required to freely provide our personal search data to competitors.
Months ago, Kent Walker, Google’s Chief Legal Officer, interpreted “User-side Data” as “not just Google’s innovations and results, but even more troublingly, Americans’ personal search queries.” That’s why we advocate moving away from tech giants and using a search engine like Brave or Duck Duck Go, which doesn’t track search queries.
In 2024, Google’s market share dropped below 90% for the first time in a decade. Granted, it was merely incremental, but this could be the start of Google losing its verb status. Search competitors like Bing and Duck Duck Go have incorporated AI assistance while Google’s attempt is still in beta.
At the same time, internet users are now turning to AI Chatbots to answer questions and search for information. Google’s Gemini significantly trails ChatGPT and is losing market share to other AI competitors. All happening with the full outcome of this antitrust case yet to be decided.
Are we seeing the beginning of the end of “Googling” something? What do you think? Comment below.
Postscript↓
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