30s Summary

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed big changes to Google’s search business, accusing the company of maintaining an industry monopoly. Suggested improvements include splitting up parts of Google’s search business, preventing Google from dominating new technologies such as AI, and enforcing data sharing with competitors. A “technical committee” is also proposed for supervision. Google warned these changes might negatively impact the tech industry and affect its profitability. This action is the DOJ’s response to Google’s dominance in the search market through exclusive deals with browsers and phone makers. Other big tech companies too are under scrutiny for their market influence.

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Hey, did you hear? The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is taking on Google to challenge their control over the search engine market. This could seriously shake things up in the tech world.

On October 8th, the DOJ made it public that they think it’s time for Google’s search business to take a step back as a part of their ongoing lawsuit against the company. They accuse Google of keeping a monopoly that’s not cool for the industry.

So, what does the DOJ want, you ask? They’re after some big changes to make things fair in the search and advertising world. For starters, they want to split up some parts of Google’s search business and make some changes that put consumers first and encourage fair competition.

Also, they want to keep Google from using its influence to take over new tech stuff like artificial intelligence (AI). Plus, the DOJ wants Google to share search data with the competition and allow websites to choose whether they want their content used for training AI models.

And to ensure Google plays nice with these new rules, they’re suggesting a “technical committee” to keep an eye on things.

While none of these are definite yet, the DOJ is considering all of these changes.

Google responded a day later with a blog post, defending how they do business and talking about how these changes could have a bigger impact on tech.

They said, “Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers.”

However, Google isn’t the only big tech company in the spotlight for their business practices this past year.

But why is this happening in the first place? The DOJ’s move against Google is the result of years of scrutiny over Google’s control of the search market, which it maintains with exclusive deals with web browsers and phone manufacturers. These deals force Google’s search engine to be the default option for a ton of users. This stranglehold limits consumers’ choices and gives Google too much control over information.

And it’s not just about search engines when it comes to Big Tech.

There is growing concern over how much influence big tech companies like Google could have on AI, the next big thing in tech. Because the more data Google collects, the better its AI models are, and that could mean they have too much control over AI.

Even the European Union launched an investigation into big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Meta over violations of its Digital Markets Act in March 2024. And in August 2024, UK regulators looked into Amazon’s $4 billion investment in Anthropic AI, a leading model in the industry.

In response to the DOJ, Google warned that the proposed changes could hurt its AI efforts and profitability, making it harder for the company to compete globally.

Source: Cointelegraph