US FTC Backs DOJ Proposal in Google Search Antitrust Case

Thanks to the Justice Department proposal, the search engine might soon be stripped for the rivals to look into. An approving nod has been given to the proposal by an America’s top privacy cop, the FTC, on the ground that it safeguards the data well enough.

The Department of Justice has laid out a proposal to break the online search monopoly that could be wielded by the tech giant from its dominant position. The proposal was reacted to with an August ruling declaring the illegal monopoly and awakening the struggle for an open internet. This is but a flurry in the larger war that will bring the digital playing field to the level.

With the courtroom drama in Washington reaching its climax this very month, the presiding judge is drowning in a tidal wave of expert opinions, a titanic conflict fought by interest groups eager to influence the internet’s future. At stake? Nothing less than Google’s throne. This case is really not just an ordinary legal quarrel; it presents a tectonic opportunity to shatter the Internet as we know it by dethroning Google as the undisputed king of information online.

Increasing competition will put more pressure on Google to improve its privacy practices, the FTC said.

The Justice Department has its sights set on Google for refusing to cooperate with the data-sharing demands, with CEO Sundar Pichai warning that sharing user data would actually expose the company’s concerns with intellectual properties and would bang the door for infringement of users’ privacy. The technology behemoth is vehemently resisting the proposal, calling it a reckless overreach and an injury to both innovation and individual rights.

The FTC said the proposal would appoint a committee to oversee compliance, similar to the agency’s privacy-related settlements.

It’s going to be a major disruption for the empire of Google. A breakup is being envisioned by regulators whereby Google would have to unload Chrome, the very browser nearly everyone has.” DOJ and state AGs are also challenging Google’s enforcement of lucrative contracts that abridge competition, asking for an end to these billions of dollars being given to Apple and others in return for being the default search.

Google has said making its agreements non-exclusive, as it has already begun to do, is the right approach.

The DOJ and state attorneys general have expressed concerns that Google could extend its dominance to AI.

By way of new filings, Anthropic, the startup backed by Google, argues that freezing AI investments pre-clearance with the DOJ would make it impossible for Google to support smaller players, potentially freezing much-needed funds for emerging AI innovators. The promise of life through AI that Google could give to smaller start-ups could be cut off, starving such promising opportunities of important capital.

Google holds a minority stake worth billions of dollars in Anthropic.

Anthropic argued the proposal “would harm, not benefit, AI competition.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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