Google Escaped the Worst Scenario. Critics Have Concerns

Alphabet shares jumped 9% on Wednesday after a judge spared Google from a forced breakup in a landmark antitrust case, easing investor concerns and fueling optimism about the tech giant's future, per CNBC. The Department of Justice had pushed for sweeping remedies, including forcing Google to sell off its Chrome browser. However, US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected the idea of a split, instead opting for less severe restrictions. While the court reaffirmed that Google holds an illegal monopoly in internet search, it stopped short of mandating major divestitures, meaning Google retains control of its Chrome browser and Android operating system, which is seen as crucial for Google's push into artificial intelligence.

Google will still be allowed to pay other companies to make its products the default, such as the billions it pays Apple for default search status on iPhones. However, Google can no longer enter into exclusive deals that tie payments or licensing to using only Google products. It must also give rivals access to some of its search data.

Many interpreted the decision as a major win for the company. Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of the DuckDuckGo search engine, said he didn't think the mandated remedies would address "Google's illegal behavior," per Business Insider. It's like a serial bank robber being sentenced "to probation under which they may continue robbing banks but must share data on how they rob banks with competing bank robbers," added Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, which previously won an antitrust lawsuit against Google.

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However, Rebecca Hay Allensworth, an antitrust expert at Vanderbilt Law School, disagrees, telling the BBC the ordered remedies "could be meaningful." While Google avoided the worst-case scenario, she says Mehta didn't go easy on the company. Rather, his ruling was in keeping with an appeals court's overturning of a judge's call in the late 1990s to break up Microsoft's monopoly of the web browser market. Adam Kovacevich, founder of the Chamber of Progress tech-industry coalition, noted that "in rejecting Google critics' fantastical remedies," Mehta cited the Microsoft case "nine different times."