谷歌在周一經(jīng)歷了糟糕的一天,。一名聯(lián)邦法官在二十多年來(lái)第一起針對(duì)大型科技公司的重大反壟斷案件中裁定,,谷歌在搜索市場(chǎng)上存在非法壟斷。由于其在手機(jī)和瀏覽器上的廣泛存在,,這家科技公司能夠在幾乎不造成任何后果的情況下提高廣告費(fèi)率,。根據(jù)美國(guó)司法部(Department of Justice)的數(shù)據(jù),谷歌在2021年支付了260億美元以成為大眾默認(rèn)的搜索引擎,。
法官阿米特·梅塔(Amit Mehta)在長(zhǎng)達(dá)286頁(yè)的判決書(shū)中表示:“谷歌的分銷(xiāo)協(xié)議使其壟斷了很大一部分通用搜索服務(wù)市場(chǎng),,阻止競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手參與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)?!?/p>
谷歌的母公司Alphabet擁有2萬(wàn)億美元的資產(chǎn),,是科技界一股不可忽視的力量,,此案的結(jié)果必將對(duì)谷歌及其用戶(hù)以外的實(shí)體產(chǎn)生連鎖效應(yīng)。隨著該案塵埃落定,,科技和反壟斷專(zhuān)家表示,,該訴訟可能會(huì)給科技行業(yè)的實(shí)體帶來(lái)連鎖反應(yīng)——無(wú)論好壞如何。以下是他們列出的贏家和輸家,。
贏家
康奈爾大學(xué)(Cornell University)資深法學(xué)教授喬治·海(George Hay)認(rèn)為,,雖然美國(guó)司法部顯然是此案的贏家,但美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)(FTC)也可能從此案中受益,。該委員會(huì)目前正卷入與蘋(píng)果(Apple)等其他大型科技公司的訴訟,,并準(zhǔn)備對(duì)英偉達(dá)(Nvidia)、微軟和OpenAI進(jìn)行反壟斷調(diào)查,。美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)現(xiàn)在的做法與20世紀(jì)90年代和2000年代的快速創(chuàng)新時(shí)代有所不同,,當(dāng)時(shí)該監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)花了數(shù)年時(shí)間打擊科技?jí)艛嗥髽I(yè)的迅速崛起。
他在接受《財(cái)富》雜志采訪(fǎng)時(shí)表示:“這表明,,法院愿意對(duì)一家占主導(dǎo)地位的公司采取行動(dòng),,解釋它為何占主導(dǎo)地位,并將部分反壟斷責(zé)任歸因于某種占主導(dǎo)地位的原因,?!?/p>
不過(guò),盡管司法部獲得了有利的裁決,,谷歌前政策主管,、科技業(yè)聯(lián)盟“進(jìn)步商會(huì)”(Chamber of Progress)創(chuàng)始人亞當(dāng)·科瓦切維奇(Adam Kovacevich)對(duì)《財(cái)富》雜志表示,科技公司將繼續(xù)大獲全勝,,微軟很可能成為本案的最大贏家,。
他說(shuō):"大型科技公司反壟斷訴訟的特點(diǎn)是,大贏家往往是另一家大型科技公司,?!?/p>
科瓦切維奇表示,這起訴訟的結(jié)果是,,谷歌可能被禁止參與默認(rèn)交易競(jìng)標(biāo),,這就為其他搜索引擎提供了可乘之機(jī)。他認(rèn)為,,由于微軟在業(yè)界的實(shí)力和影響力(市值高達(dá)3萬(wàn)億美元),,確保其搜索引擎必應(yīng)成為一些主要平臺(tái)的默認(rèn)搜索引擎應(yīng)該不成問(wèn)題。
微軟已經(jīng)公開(kāi)表示這是目標(biāo)之一,。2023年,,首席執(zhí)行官薩蒂亞·納德拉(Satya Nadella)在谷歌反壟斷案中作證說(shuō),與蘋(píng)果達(dá)成協(xié)議取代谷歌作為默認(rèn)瀏覽器異常艱難。雖然與谷歌相比,,必應(yīng)缺乏強(qiáng)大的用戶(hù)群,,但納德拉在證詞中承諾,該公司將有能力加大對(duì)引擎的投資,。
對(duì)微軟而言,,這也是一次象征性的勝利。23年前,,微軟曾在最后一起重大聯(lián)邦反壟斷案件中敗訴,。2000年,美國(guó)司法部裁定微軟對(duì)個(gè)人電腦制造商的限制違反了反壟斷法,。相對(duì)而言,,微軟毫發(fā)無(wú)損:2001年喬治·沃克·布什(George W. Bush)就任總統(tǒng)后,該公司有機(jī)會(huì)了結(jié)這起訴訟,。此外,,微軟也得以避免按照法官最初的要求分拆成兩家公司??仆咔芯S奇說(shuō),,盡管在案件的補(bǔ)救階段躲過(guò)了一劫,但這家巨頭仍希望保持領(lǐng)先地位,,讓其他大型科技公司也經(jīng)歷它所經(jīng)歷的一切,。
他說(shuō):"基本上20年來(lái),,微軟的立場(chǎng)一直是,,'我們不認(rèn)同政府的做法,但他們就是這么對(duì)我們的,,所以他們也應(yīng)該這么對(duì)谷歌,。’”
微軟拒絕了《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求,。
初創(chuàng)企業(yè)加速器Y Combinator公共政策主管盧瑟·洛(Luther Lowe)認(rèn)為,,由于大型科技公司可能會(huì)被削弱,即將出臺(tái)的補(bǔ)救措施可能會(huì)讓以前無(wú)法與谷歌的龐大資源競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的科技初創(chuàng)公司受益,。
他在X上寫(xiě)道:“這一裁決可能會(huì)極大地重塑競(jìng)爭(zhēng)格局,,通過(guò)削弱谷歌的壟斷能力,并在搜索和數(shù)字廣告領(lǐng)域創(chuàng)造更開(kāi)放的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境,,使‘小型科技公司’受益,。”
科瓦切維奇并不這么認(rèn)為,。雖然像DuckDuckGo這樣的小型搜索引擎網(wǎng)站可能面臨的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)較少,,但根據(jù)該案的補(bǔ)救措施,要想提高市場(chǎng)份額還很難,。由于這些規(guī)模較小的科技公司缺乏微軟和谷歌的資金支持,,它們的產(chǎn)品根本沒(méi)有那么強(qiáng)大,,用戶(hù)友好性也乏善可陳。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō):“但你如何迫使消費(fèi)者選擇某個(gè)較差的搜索引擎呢,?”
DuckDuckGo在一份聲明中告訴《財(cái)富》雜志,,它確實(shí)提供了一個(gè)有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的搜索引擎替代品,并對(duì)美國(guó)司法部在反壟斷案中的裁決表示贊賞,。
該公司表示:"我們已經(jīng)走過(guò)了一個(gè)關(guān)鍵的里程碑,,但仍需要書(shū)寫(xiě)許多歷史,谷歌將盡其所能阻礙進(jìn)步,,因此我們希望看到強(qiáng)有力的補(bǔ)救措施審判,,能夠真正深入挖掘所有細(xì)節(jié),提出一系列切實(shí)有效的補(bǔ)救措施,,并建立監(jiān)督機(jī)構(gòu)進(jìn)行管理,。”
輸家
谷歌訴訟裁決可能會(huì)對(duì)三星(Samsung)和蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)生重大影響,,原因是這兩家公司為將谷歌作為默認(rèn)搜索引擎支付了巨額費(fèi)用,。蘋(píng)果僅在2022年就支付了200億美元,將谷歌作為Safari的默認(rèn)搜索欄,。梅塔在聽(tīng)證會(huì)上辯稱(chēng),,這些協(xié)議不利于競(jìng)爭(zhēng),占搜索市場(chǎng)94.9%的份額,。在做出裁決后,,這些協(xié)議的前景尚不明朗。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō),,雖然兩家科技公司,,尤其是蘋(píng)果可能會(huì)受到反壟斷案結(jié)果的最直接影響,但最大的輸家可能是Mozilla,。當(dāng)用戶(hù)在Mozilla的火狐瀏覽器中輸入問(wèn)題進(jìn)行搜索查詢(xún)時(shí),,它會(huì)將其轉(zhuǎn)到谷歌。根據(jù)Mozilla 2021-2022年的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表,,Mozilla與谷歌的交易利潤(rùn)豐厚,,占其5.93億美元收入中的5.1億美元。據(jù)科瓦切維奇稱(chēng),,Mozilla嚴(yán)重依賴(lài)谷歌參與默認(rèn)交易競(jìng)標(biāo),。如果谷歌無(wú)法再參與默認(rèn)交易,那么微軟等替代者就不再愿意為使用必應(yīng)的平臺(tái)支付那么高的費(fèi)用,。這可能會(huì)影響Mozilla對(duì)谷歌的財(cái)務(wù)依賴(lài),,原因是谷歌的競(jìng)標(biāo)減少,Mozilla的收入也會(huì)減少。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō):"Mozilla從谷歌的競(jìng)標(biāo)中獲益,,因此我認(rèn)為這幾乎肯定會(huì)消失,。”
Mozilla表示正在密切關(guān)注此案,,以評(píng)估其對(duì)公司的影響,。
Mozilla發(fā)言人周一在一份聲明中告訴《財(cái)富》雜志:"Mozilla一直倡導(dǎo)網(wǎng)絡(luò)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和選擇,尤其是在搜索領(lǐng)域,?;鸷鼮g覽器將繼續(xù)提供一系列搜索選項(xiàng),并將繼續(xù)致力于滿(mǎn)足用戶(hù)的偏好,,同時(shí)促進(jìn)市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng),。"
隨著默認(rèn)搜索引擎可能發(fā)生變化的傳言,對(duì)谷歌搜索欄非常滿(mǎn)意的用戶(hù)也可能會(huì)感到不便,。更嚴(yán)重的后果可能是,,人們會(huì)對(duì)其他平臺(tái)感到失望,從而徹底離開(kāi)這些平臺(tái),。
用戶(hù)反叛已有先例,。2014年,作為一項(xiàng)價(jià)值3.75億美元的五年協(xié)議的一部分,,Mozilla將其火狐瀏覽器的默認(rèn)搜索工具從谷歌換成了雅虎,。然而,與其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手相比,,雅虎的體驗(yàn)質(zhì)量相形見(jiàn)絀,,用戶(hù)直接放棄使用該瀏覽器。Mozilla首席執(zhí)行官米切爾·貝克(Mitchell Baker)稱(chēng)這是一場(chǎng)"失敗"的賭注,,到2017年底,,Mozilla又將默認(rèn)瀏覽器改回了谷歌,。
海警告說(shuō),,拋開(kāi)先例和證據(jù)不談,要確定經(jīng)歷重組后此案真正贏家和輸家將需要數(shù)月時(shí)間,。谷歌全球事務(wù)總裁肯特·沃克(Kent Walker)在給《財(cái)富》雜志的一份聲明中表示,,谷歌將對(duì)這一裁決提出上訴,司法部將于9月份舉行另一場(chǎng)聽(tīng)證會(huì),,討論補(bǔ)救措施,。海認(rèn)為,在此之前,,谷歌"缺乏真正的動(dòng)機(jī)去改變其行為",。
他說(shuō):“在相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間內(nèi)不會(huì)發(fā)生任何事情。”(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
谷歌在周一經(jīng)歷了糟糕的一天,。一名聯(lián)邦法官在二十多年來(lái)第一起針對(duì)大型科技公司的重大反壟斷案件中裁定,,谷歌在搜索市場(chǎng)上存在非法壟斷。由于其在手機(jī)和瀏覽器上的廣泛存在,,這家科技公司能夠在幾乎不造成任何后果的情況下提高廣告費(fèi)率,。根據(jù)美國(guó)司法部(Department of Justice)的數(shù)據(jù),谷歌在2021年支付了260億美元以成為大眾默認(rèn)的搜索引擎,。
法官阿米特·梅塔(Amit Mehta)在長(zhǎng)達(dá)286頁(yè)的判決書(shū)中表示:“谷歌的分銷(xiāo)協(xié)議使其壟斷了很大一部分通用搜索服務(wù)市場(chǎng),,阻止競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手參與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)?!?/p>
谷歌的母公司Alphabet擁有2萬(wàn)億美元的資產(chǎn),,是科技界一股不可忽視的力量,此案的結(jié)果必將對(duì)谷歌及其用戶(hù)以外的實(shí)體產(chǎn)生連鎖效應(yīng),。隨著該案塵埃落定,,科技和反壟斷專(zhuān)家表示,該訴訟可能會(huì)給科技行業(yè)的實(shí)體帶來(lái)連鎖反應(yīng)——無(wú)論好壞如何,。以下是他們列出的贏家和輸家,。
贏家
康奈爾大學(xué)(Cornell University)資深法學(xué)教授喬治·海(George Hay)認(rèn)為,雖然美國(guó)司法部顯然是此案的贏家,,但美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)(FTC)也可能從此案中受益,。該委員會(huì)目前正卷入與蘋(píng)果(Apple)等其他大型科技公司的訴訟,并準(zhǔn)備對(duì)英偉達(dá)(Nvidia),、微軟和OpenAI進(jìn)行反壟斷調(diào)查,。美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)現(xiàn)在的做法與20世紀(jì)90年代和2000年代的快速創(chuàng)新時(shí)代有所不同,當(dāng)時(shí)該監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)花了數(shù)年時(shí)間打擊科技?jí)艛嗥髽I(yè)的迅速崛起,。
他在接受《財(cái)富》雜志采訪(fǎng)時(shí)表示:“這表明,,法院愿意對(duì)一家占主導(dǎo)地位的公司采取行動(dòng),解釋它為何占主導(dǎo)地位,,并將部分反壟斷責(zé)任歸因于某種占主導(dǎo)地位的原因,。”
不過(guò),,盡管司法部獲得了有利的裁決,,谷歌前政策主管、科技業(yè)聯(lián)盟“進(jìn)步商會(huì)”(Chamber of Progress)創(chuàng)始人亞當(dāng)·科瓦切維奇(Adam Kovacevich)對(duì)《財(cái)富》雜志表示,,科技公司將繼續(xù)大獲全勝,,微軟很可能成為本案的最大贏家。
他說(shuō):"大型科技公司反壟斷訴訟的特點(diǎn)是,,大贏家往往是另一家大型科技公司,?!?/p>
科瓦切維奇表示,這起訴訟的結(jié)果是,,谷歌可能被禁止參與默認(rèn)交易競(jìng)標(biāo),,這就為其他搜索引擎提供了可乘之機(jī)。他認(rèn)為,,由于微軟在業(yè)界的實(shí)力和影響力(市值高達(dá)3萬(wàn)億美元),,確保其搜索引擎必應(yīng)成為一些主要平臺(tái)的默認(rèn)搜索引擎應(yīng)該不成問(wèn)題。
微軟已經(jīng)公開(kāi)表示這是目標(biāo)之一,。2023年,,首席執(zhí)行官薩蒂亞·納德拉(Satya Nadella)在谷歌反壟斷案中作證說(shuō),與蘋(píng)果達(dá)成協(xié)議取代谷歌作為默認(rèn)瀏覽器異常艱難,。雖然與谷歌相比,,必應(yīng)缺乏強(qiáng)大的用戶(hù)群,但納德拉在證詞中承諾,,該公司將有能力加大對(duì)引擎的投資,。
對(duì)微軟而言,這也是一次象征性的勝利,。23年前,,微軟曾在最后一起重大聯(lián)邦反壟斷案件中敗訴。2000年,,美國(guó)司法部裁定微軟對(duì)個(gè)人電腦制造商的限制違反了反壟斷法,。相對(duì)而言,微軟毫發(fā)無(wú)損:2001年喬治·沃克·布什(George W. Bush)就任總統(tǒng)后,,該公司有機(jī)會(huì)了結(jié)這起訴訟,。此外,微軟也得以避免按照法官最初的要求分拆成兩家公司,??仆咔芯S奇說(shuō),盡管在案件的補(bǔ)救階段躲過(guò)了一劫,,但這家巨頭仍希望保持領(lǐng)先地位,,讓其他大型科技公司也經(jīng)歷它所經(jīng)歷的一切。
他說(shuō):"基本上20年來(lái),,微軟的立場(chǎng)一直是,,'我們不認(rèn)同政府的做法,但他們就是這么對(duì)我們的,,所以他們也應(yīng)該這么對(duì)谷歌?!?/p>
微軟拒絕了《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求,。
初創(chuàng)企業(yè)加速器Y Combinator公共政策主管盧瑟·洛(Luther Lowe)認(rèn)為,,由于大型科技公司可能會(huì)被削弱,即將出臺(tái)的補(bǔ)救措施可能會(huì)讓以前無(wú)法與谷歌的龐大資源競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的科技初創(chuàng)公司受益,。
他在X上寫(xiě)道:“這一裁決可能會(huì)極大地重塑競(jìng)爭(zhēng)格局,,通過(guò)削弱谷歌的壟斷能力,并在搜索和數(shù)字廣告領(lǐng)域創(chuàng)造更開(kāi)放的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境,,使‘小型科技公司’受益,。”
科瓦切維奇并不這么認(rèn)為,。雖然像DuckDuckGo這樣的小型搜索引擎網(wǎng)站可能面臨的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)較少,,但根據(jù)該案的補(bǔ)救措施,要想提高市場(chǎng)份額還很難,。由于這些規(guī)模較小的科技公司缺乏微軟和谷歌的資金支持,,它們的產(chǎn)品根本沒(méi)有那么強(qiáng)大,用戶(hù)友好性也乏善可陳,。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō):“但你如何迫使消費(fèi)者選擇某個(gè)較差的搜索引擎呢,?”
DuckDuckGo在一份聲明中告訴《財(cái)富》雜志,它確實(shí)提供了一個(gè)有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的搜索引擎替代品,,并對(duì)美國(guó)司法部在反壟斷案中的裁決表示贊賞,。
該公司表示:"我們已經(jīng)走過(guò)了一個(gè)關(guān)鍵的里程碑,但仍需要書(shū)寫(xiě)許多歷史,,谷歌將盡其所能阻礙進(jìn)步,,因此我們希望看到強(qiáng)有力的補(bǔ)救措施審判,能夠真正深入挖掘所有細(xì)節(jié),,提出一系列切實(shí)有效的補(bǔ)救措施,,并建立監(jiān)督機(jī)構(gòu)進(jìn)行管理?!?/p>
輸家
谷歌訴訟裁決可能會(huì)對(duì)三星(Samsung)和蘋(píng)果產(chǎn)生重大影響,,原因是這兩家公司為將谷歌作為默認(rèn)搜索引擎支付了巨額費(fèi)用。蘋(píng)果僅在2022年就支付了200億美元,,將谷歌作為Safari的默認(rèn)搜索欄,。梅塔在聽(tīng)證會(huì)上辯稱(chēng),這些協(xié)議不利于競(jìng)爭(zhēng),,占搜索市場(chǎng)94.9%的份額,。在做出裁決后,這些協(xié)議的前景尚不明朗,。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō),,雖然兩家科技公司,尤其是蘋(píng)果可能會(huì)受到反壟斷案結(jié)果的最直接影響,,但最大的輸家可能是Mozilla,。當(dāng)用戶(hù)在Mozilla的火狐瀏覽器中輸入問(wèn)題進(jìn)行搜索查詢(xún)時(shí),,它會(huì)將其轉(zhuǎn)到谷歌。根據(jù)Mozilla 2021-2022年的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表,,Mozilla與谷歌的交易利潤(rùn)豐厚,,占其5.93億美元收入中的5.1億美元。據(jù)科瓦切維奇稱(chēng),,Mozilla嚴(yán)重依賴(lài)谷歌參與默認(rèn)交易競(jìng)標(biāo),。如果谷歌無(wú)法再參與默認(rèn)交易,那么微軟等替代者就不再愿意為使用必應(yīng)的平臺(tái)支付那么高的費(fèi)用,。這可能會(huì)影響Mozilla對(duì)谷歌的財(cái)務(wù)依賴(lài),,原因是谷歌的競(jìng)標(biāo)減少,Mozilla的收入也會(huì)減少,。
科瓦切維奇說(shuō):"Mozilla從谷歌的競(jìng)標(biāo)中獲益,,因此我認(rèn)為這幾乎肯定會(huì)消失?!?/p>
Mozilla表示正在密切關(guān)注此案,,以評(píng)估其對(duì)公司的影響。
Mozilla發(fā)言人周一在一份聲明中告訴《財(cái)富》雜志:"Mozilla一直倡導(dǎo)網(wǎng)絡(luò)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和選擇,,尤其是在搜索領(lǐng)域,。火狐瀏覽器將繼續(xù)提供一系列搜索選項(xiàng),,并將繼續(xù)致力于滿(mǎn)足用戶(hù)的偏好,,同時(shí)促進(jìn)市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。"
隨著默認(rèn)搜索引擎可能發(fā)生變化的傳言,,對(duì)谷歌搜索欄非常滿(mǎn)意的用戶(hù)也可能會(huì)感到不便,。更嚴(yán)重的后果可能是,人們會(huì)對(duì)其他平臺(tái)感到失望,,從而徹底離開(kāi)這些平臺(tái),。
用戶(hù)反叛已有先例。2014年,,作為一項(xiàng)價(jià)值3.75億美元的五年協(xié)議的一部分,,Mozilla將其火狐瀏覽器的默認(rèn)搜索工具從谷歌換成了雅虎。然而,,與其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手相比,,雅虎的體驗(yàn)質(zhì)量相形見(jiàn)絀,用戶(hù)直接放棄使用該瀏覽器,。Mozilla首席執(zhí)行官米切爾·貝克(Mitchell Baker)稱(chēng)這是一場(chǎng)"失敗"的賭注,,到2017年底,Mozilla又將默認(rèn)瀏覽器改回了谷歌,。
海警告說(shuō),,拋開(kāi)先例和證據(jù)不談,,要確定經(jīng)歷重組后此案真正贏家和輸家將需要數(shù)月時(shí)間,。谷歌全球事務(wù)總裁肯特·沃克(Kent Walker)在給《財(cái)富》雜志的一份聲明中表示,,谷歌將對(duì)這一裁決提出上訴,司法部將于9月份舉行另一場(chǎng)聽(tīng)證會(huì),,討論補(bǔ)救措施,。海認(rèn)為,在此之前,,谷歌"缺乏真正的動(dòng)機(jī)去改變其行為",。
他說(shuō):“在相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間內(nèi)不會(huì)發(fā)生任何事情?!保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
Google had a bad day on Monday. A federal judge ruled in the first major antitrust case against big tech in over two decades that Google has an illegal monopoly on the search market. As a result of its pervasive presence on phones and browsers, the tech company was able to hike advertisement rates with few consequences. According to the Department of Justice, Google paid $26 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine for the masses.
“Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete,” judge Amit Mehta said in the case’s 286-page ruling.
With Google’s $2 trillion parent company Alphabet a force to be reckoned with in the tech world, the outcome of the case is bound to cascade beyond Google and its users. As the dust settled on the case, tech and antitrust experts said the lawsuit could have plenty of ripples on entities in the tech industry—for better or for worse. Here are the winners and losers they identified.
The winners
While the DOJ is the obvious victor in the case’s ruling, the Federal Trade Commission—which is currently embroiled in lawsuits with other big tech companies like Apple, and readying antitrust probes into Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI—could also benefit from the case, according to George Hay, a senior law professor at Cornell University. The FTC’s approach now is a departure from the era of the 1990s and 2000s during a period of rapid innovation, when the regulatory body took years to crack down on the meteoric rise of tech monopolies.
“It suggests that the court is willing to take on a dominant firm and explain why it’s so dominant and attribute some antitrust liability to some reason for dominance,” he told Fortune.
But despite the Justice Department getting a favorable ruling, Adam Kovacevich, former Google policy director and founder of the tech coalition Chamber of Progress, told Fortune that tech will continue to win big, likely crowning Microsoft as the case’s biggest winner.
“The thing about big tech antitrust crusades is that the big winner, many times, is another big tech company,” he said.
As a result of the suit, Google could be prohibited from bidding in default deals, Kovacevich said, leaving the door open for other search engines to take advantage. Because of Microsoft’s power and influence in the industry—to the tune of a $3 trillion market capitalization—it should have no problem securing its search engine Bing as the default for some major platforms, Kovacevich argued.
Microsoft has openly expressed this as a goal. CEO Satya Nadella testified in Google’s antitrust case in 2023, saying how hard it was to strike a deal with Apple to replace Google as its default browser. Though Bing lacks a robust usership compared to Google, Nadella promised in his testimony the company would be able to invest more in the engine.
It’s also a symbolic victory for Microsoft, which, 23 years ago, lost the last major federal antitrust case. In 2000, the DOJ ruled Microsoft violated antitrust laws through the restrictions it put on PC manufacturers. But Microsoft came out relatively unscathed: After George W. Bush became president in 2001, the company had the opportunity to settle the suit. Microsoft was also able to avoid splitting into two companies, the original request of the judge. But despite dodging a bullet in the remedy stage of the case, there’s still a desire from the juggernaut to stay on top and give other big tech companies a taste of what it experienced, Kovacevich said.
“Basically for 20 years now, Microsoft’s position has been, ‘We didn’t agree with the government, but this is what they did to us, and so they should do the same thing to Google,’” he said.
Microsoft declined Fortune’s request for comment.
With the potential for big tech to be humbled, Luther Lowe, head of public policy at startup accelerator Y Combinator, believes the impending remedies could benefit tech startups unable to previously compete with Google’s massive resources.
“This ruling could significantly reshape the competitive landscape to benefit ‘little tech’ by reducing Google’s gatekeeping power & creating more open competition in search & digital advertising,” he wrote on X.
Kovacevich isn’t so sure. While smaller search engine sites like DuckDuckGo may have less competition, depending on the remedies from the case, it’s a long shot for it to be able to increase its market share. Because these smaller tech companies lack Microsoft and Google’s funding, their products simply aren’t as strong or user-friendly.
“But how do you force consumers to choose a certain inferior search engine?” Kovacevich said.
DuckDuckGo told Fortune in a statement it does offer a competitive search engine alternative and applauded the DOJ’s decision in the antitrust case.
“We’ve passed a key milestone, but there’s still a lot of history to be written and Google will do anything it can to get in the way of progress which is why we hope to see a robust remedies trial that can really dig into all the details, propose an array of remedies that will actually work, and set up a monitoring body to administer them,” the company said.
The losers
The ruling of Google’s suit could have a big impact on Samsung and Apple, which have shelled out on deals to have Google as their default search engines. Apple paid $20 billion in 2022 alone to have Google as Safari’s default search bar. Mehta argued in the hearing those agreements were detrimental to competition, accounting for 94.9% of the search market. Following the ruling, the future of these deals are unclear.
But while both tech companies—and Apple in particular—may appear to be most directly impacted by the outcome of the antitrust case, the biggest loser is likely Mozilla, Kovacevich said. When users type in search queries into Mozilla’s Firefox browser, it reroutes them to Google. Mozilla’s deal with Google is incredibly lucrative, making up $510 million of its $593 million in revenue, according to its 2021-2022 financial statements. It also heavily relies on Google’s participation in bidding wars over default deals, according to Kovacevich. If Google is no longer able to participate in default deals, there’s less incentive for replacement candidates like Microsoft to want to pay as much for platforms to use Bing. That could impact Mozilla’s financial dependence on Google, with lower bids and less revenue for Mozilla.
“What Mozilla was benefiting from was the bidding war between Google, and so I think that is almost certainly going to go away,” Kovacevich said.
Mozilla said it’s closely reviewing the case to examine its impact on the company.
“Mozilla has always championed competition and choice online, particularly in search,” a spokesperson told Fortune in a statement on Monday. “Firefox continues to offer a range of search options, and we remain committed to serving our users’ preferences while fostering a competitive market.”
With rumblings of potential default search engine changes, there’s also potential for users perfectly happy with Google’s massive search bar presence to be inconvenienced. And the outsized consequence could be that people grow frustrated with other platforms, and leave them altogether.
There’s past precedent for a user revolt. In 2014, Mozilla switched its Firefox default search tool from Google to Yahoo as part of a $375 million five-year-deal. The quality of the experience with Yahoo paled in comparison to its competitor, however, and users simply left the browser. Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker called it a “failed” bet, and by the end of 2017, Mozilla had reverted its default browser back to Google
Precedent and evidence aside, the shakeout to determine the true winners and losers of the case will take months, Hay warned. Google will appeal the decision, Kent Walker, president of global affairs said in a statement to Fortune, with a separate DOJ hearing to discuss remedies scheduled for September. Until then, Google has “no real incentive to change behavior,” according to Hay.
“Nothing’s going to happen for quite a while,” he said.