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

#41

Post by skinnymuch » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:21 PM UTC

Hansenq wrote: post #31

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 b…

Vast majority of users are not technically literate enough to know what is a good browser. They would have no clue why Chrome is better or not. They definitely don’t know what Blink is.

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

#42

Post by vkou » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:22 PM UTC

edm0nd wrote: post #39

solardev wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Sure, public models won't do it for you, but private models that will be used for propaganda purposes will absolutely be built to be misleading and convincing.

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

#43

Post by judge2020 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:22 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.

I mean, it’s a legitimate concern. Google is bleeding so hard right now from Gen Z and especially Gen Alpha deciding to use ChatGPT first and foremost when asking questions that Google would’ve answered previously. Whether or not that means they should keep Chrome as a product is up for debate.

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

#44

Post by motoxpro » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:23 PM UTC

Thank goodness. Them spinning that out would have been a nightmare. Bad day to be Apple.

Edit: I just checked the stock, I had no idea people priced in a split with that much certainty.

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

#45

Post by xyzzy9563 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:23 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #27

xyzzy9563 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Because the overall well-being of a society is supposedly more important than a few shareholders' wealth?

Do you know of any societies in the world that have a high quality of life but don’t have wealthy shareholders?

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

#46

Post by jonas21 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:23 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.

Do you not see ChatGPT and Claude as viable alternatives to search? They've certainly replaced a fair chunk of my queries.

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

#47

Post by mandeepj » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:24 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #32

stackskipton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

How humorous it may sound, but there’s no pressure or binding on Google to hire that judge :-)

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

#48

Post by stackskipton » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:25 PM UTC

xyzzy9563 wrote: post #38

stackskipton wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was shown time and time again, defaults are what most consumers will use even if better alternatives exist. A ton of Bing market share comes from Edge pushing it so hard.

Google would not spend all this money with Apple/Firefox if they knew that customers would use Google without being forced into it. Since they won't change search engines, Google realized they need to force it.

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

#49

Post by bediger4000 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:26 PM UTC

jonas21 wrote: post #46

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.

Do you not see ChatGPT and Claude as viable alternatives to search? They've certainly replaced a fair chunk of my queries.

I do not. I prefer to read the primary sources, LLM summaries are, after all, probabilistic, and based on syntax. I'm often looking for semantics, and an LLM really really is not going to give me that.

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

#50

Post by hugedickfounder » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 9:26 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #32

stackskipton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

[dead]