Google might not be your go-to browser anymore

Did you know that Google is at war since 2020?

So here’s what has happened. During the Trump administration in 2020, the US Department of Justice(DOJ) filed a historic lawsuit against Google. The Lawsuit accused Google of unlawfully maintaining monopolies through exclusionary practices, basically meaning

Well, it caught my attention and I was curious to know how are things going to change for me when it comes to accessing to internet. Because accept it or not, Google has become our go-to browser for almost everything. Hence this issue.

Continuing the story and fast forward to today, US Federal Judge Amit Mehta presented a 276-page ruling (trust me, you would not want to read this document) highlighting how Google broke the law by exploiting its market dominance in search industry through unfair practices. For eg, Google secured exclusive agreements with companies like Apple to make Google the default search engine on their devices. To give you an idea, the deal was a staggering $20 Billion. This gives Google the power to rule online search & advertising space.

It doesn’t stop with just Apple. It has extended contracts to major players like Samsung, Motorola, Mozilla, AT&T, Opera & UC Web. Economists call this market domination strategy of blocking competitors by controlling access and distribution as “monopoly maintenance“

Now some might question, why can’t other search engines like Bing try to take major share of the pie? What’s stopping them? After all, even Microsoft is a multi-billion dollar firm, right?

Well, here’s how it works. The $20 Billion deal I talked about earlier, it sort of sets Google as the default search engine on most devices. It becomes the easiest option for users to stick with, rather than choosing something else. It clearly means more people will use it. And the more the people uses it, the better it gets. It collects more user information, refine its products even further and attract even more customers. Now there is no space for any other player to enter until you can afford to pay Billions of dollars. Definitely not the smaller ones.

Now the direct consequence of this is that when a search engine dominates, it keeps all the data to itself, blocking others from competing. This means other players are in a blind to offer any service that can come even remotely close to competing the giants like Google. This also means that businesses & advertisers are at the mercy of these giants. They can charge exorbitantly high rates and no one can say even a word. To give you a picture of the big money Google earns from advertising, in 2014 it made around $47 Billion in ad revenue. By 2021, it was $146 Billion! Now you see why everyone wants a big chunk of this pie but have been unsuccessful so far?

So what’s next? And what will be consequences?

Well, the decision is very likely to go against Google and might change the search industry completely. We might see a few more players and see a few more apps in our phones. Google can completely loose it’s ability to strike big deals, might face a monetary penalty or other remedies. Big players are closely watching and are waiting for the decision to come in. If Google’s dominance wavers, they will be ready to jump in. Let’s not forget the impact on advertising. The cost of advertising might go down significantly. The search engine wars are heated up bad and stakes have never been higher.

On a personal note, no matter what the decision ends up being, one thing's clear: it's going to shake things up in a big way and might even mark the end of an era. Let's be honest, Google has been a huge part of our lives. From our early school days to now, it's been there every step of the way. It's become so essential that we even rely on it to pick a restaurant when we're in the mood to eat out. How do you think this will change things for you?