Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts • Hacker News Board

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#31

Post by Hansenq » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:14 PM UTC

This seems like a very sensible and logical conclusion by the judge to me.

An exclusive contract with Apple/Samsung isn't great, but even Apple testified that they would not have accepted any other searcch engine because everyone else was worse. You can't make restrictions on what Apple is allowed to do because Google violated some law--if Apple wants to make Google the default, they should be allowed to do so! The ban on exclusive contracts makes sense though; they should not be allowed to use contracts to furthur their monopoly position.

And similarly with Chrome; it made no sense to bring Chrome into this equation. Google started, developed, and built Chrome into the best browser available today NOT through exclusive contracts, but because Chrome is just a better product. Users can switch to Firefox/Safari (Mac default)/Edge (Windows default); they don't because Chrome is better. Forcing Google to give up one of its best products is effectively eminent domain by the government to a private company.

With the rise of ChatGPT (I barely use Google anymore) and AI search engines potentially shifting the search landscape, who knows if Google will still be a monopoly 5 years from now. Software moves fast and the best solution to software monopoly is more software competition.

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#32

Post by solardev » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:14 PM UTC

stackskipton wrote: post #30

fidotron wrote: post #19

This is an astonishing victory for Google, they must be very happy about it. They get basically everything they want (keeping it all in the tent), plus a negotiating position on search deals where they can refuse something because they can't do it now. Quite why the judge is so concerned about the rise of AI factoring in here is beyond me. It's fundamentally an anticompetitive decision.

Feels like judge was looking for any excuse not to apply harsh penalty and since Google brought up AI as competitor, the judge accepted it as acceptable excuse for very minor penalty.

[flagged]

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#33

Post by solardev » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

wincy wrote: post #25

robocat wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CNBC also says "illegally held a monopololy". When they can't spell, it's a sign the article was poorly rushed?

In my mind, it also basically guarantees it wasn’t written with AI!

I wonder if you can ask AI to "add some typos and grammatical mistakes, and don't use emdashes"

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#34

Post by bergfest » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

They should be barred from shipping experimental or non-standardized features in Chrome to prevent them from abusing their monopoly and forcing others hands by creating de-facto standards without a fair discourse. Experimental features should be allowed in special Chrome builds targeted at developers only, and not be allowed to come preinstalled on any consumer device.

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#35

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #19

This is an astonishing victory for Google, they must be very happy about it. They get basically everything they want (keeping it all in the tent), plus a negotiating position on search deals where they can refuse something because they can't do it now. Quite why the judge is so concerned about the rise of AI factoring in here is beyond me. It's fundamentally an anticompetitive decision.

[deleted]

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#36

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:18 PM UTC

intsunny wrote: post #5

The headline is not great because Google will obviously appeal the ruling to the appeals court of DC, and if they have to, the Supreme Court. A lot can happy from now and then. And this may take many years to grind through the court system. I wonder if there exists AI models of all the super senior and important judges so we can venture how this will play out through the court system.

> The headline is not great because Google will obviously appeal the ruling to the appeals court of DC, and if they have to, the Supreme Court.

As will the government, but the headline is describing the current court decision (which is news) not future court decisions (which are speculation.)

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#37

Post by cma » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:19 PM UTC

bergfest wrote: post #34

They should be barred from shipping experimental or non-standardized features in Chrome to prevent them from abusing their monopoly and forcing others hands by creating de-facto standards without a fair discourse. Experimental features should be allowed in special Chrome builds targeted at developers only, and not be allowed to come preinstalled on any consumer device.

Not sure about this, but if it was going to go in if the flag isn't turned on by default that seems fine without requiring a special developer build making most stuff even harder to get tested. The web broadly isn't going to rely on something that isn't default.

The bigger problem is their features are playing into their ad business now, like the manifest v3 stuff.

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#38

Post by xyzzy9563 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:20 PM UTC

stackskipton wrote: post #28

xyzzy9563 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should shareholders have to suffer just because the Google engineers were good at their job?

The verdict makes it's clear that Google got to its position via anti competitive practices which are illegal. However, for whatever reason, the judge decided that penalty was basically slap on the wrist and finger wagging.

Everyone is free to make their own search engine. The consumers choose Google time and time again.

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#39

Post by edm0nd » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:20 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #33

wincy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my mind, it also basically guarantees it wasn’t written with AI!

I wonder if you can ask AI to "add some typos and grammatical mistakes, and don't use emdashes"

I just fed this to Claude

>write me two paragraphs about how AI has grown in 2025. include a few typos to make it appear as if a human wrote them.

its response:

I can't write content with intentional typos to make it appear human-written, as this could be misleading about the source of the content. However, I'd be happy to write you two informative paragraphs about AI's growth in 2025!

Re: Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

#40

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:20 PM UTC

zb3 wrote: post #7

intsunny wrote: post #5

The headline is not great because Google will obviously appeal the ruling to the appeals court of DC, and if they have to, the Supreme Court. A lot can happy from now and then. And this may take many years to grind through the court system. I wonder if there exists AI models of all the super senior and important judges so we can venture how this will play out through the court system.

Could the final vertict be worse for Google?

Yes; presumably their appeal will not raise issues where that is likely, but as is often the case in high-stakes civil litigation where neither side got what they wanted at trial, both sides are appealing this decision, and the government’s appeal no doubt will attenpt to raise issues that would present the possibility of things being worse for Google.