Six ways the Google antitrust ruling could change the internet
What new ideas could flourish, which new companies might get off the ground or what products might be cheaper if Google were handcuffed from flexing its monopoly power over search?
Search Engines
Google illegally maintains monopoly over internet search, judge rules
The highly anticipated court decision comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century.
OpenAI testing web search features for ChatGPT, challenging Google
OpenAI’s push into search comes after Google in May jumped heavily into using generative AI in search.
Google makes abrupt U-turn by dropping plan to remove ad-tracking cookies on Chrome browser
Chrome is the world’s dominant web browser, and many others, including Microsoft’s Edge, are based on the company’s Chromium technology.
Google scales back AI search answers after telling users to eat glue
The change is the latest example of Google launching an AI product with fanfare and then rolling it back after it goes awry.
Google wants judge, not jury, to decide upcoming antitrust case
To bolster its case, the tech giant wrote a multimillion-dollar check to the U.S. government that it says renders moot the government’s best argument for demanding a jury trial.
Google unleashes retooled search engine infused with AI options
The search engine will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.
Judge in landmark antitrust case grills Google during closing arguments
The judge overseeing a pivotal antitrust trial focused on whether Google is stifling competition and innovation repeatedly indicated Thursday that he believes it would be difficult for a formidable rival search engine to emerge.
Google to purge billions of files containing personal data in settlement of Chrome privacy case
The massive housecleaning comes as part of a settlement in a lawsuit accusing the search giant of illegal surveillance.
Google settles lawsuit alleging Chrome’s ‘Incognito’ mode tracks users
Users alleged the search giant captured and tracked their data while in “Incognito” mode, a Chrome browser setting that is supposed to protect users’ privacy. The total cost to Google if it lost the case could have been in the billions.
Google to pay $700M to U.S. states, consumers in app store settlement
Although Google struck the deal with state attorneys general in September, the settlement’s terms weren’t revealed until late Monday.
In landmark decision, jury finds Google’s app store broke anti-monopoly laws
A federal court jury has decided that Google’s Android app store has been protected by anticompetitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers, dealing a blow to a major pillar of a technology empire.
Barbie, Israel-Hamas war among year’s top internet searches
Other top searches included Damar Hamlin, Jeremy Renner, Matthew Perry and Tina Turner.
Google CEO defends paying Apple, others to make Google default search engine
In the biggest U.S. antitrust case in a quarter century, the Department of Justice contends that Google—a company whose very name is synonymous with scouring the internet—pays off tech companies to lock out rival search engines to smother competition and innovation.
Google to add Bard AI to voice assistant, following Amazon
Google said the product, called Assistant with Bard, was still an “early experiment” and that it would be available only to a test group at first.
Search engine founder testifies that Google’s partnerships thwart competition
Appearing in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg testified Thursday that it was hard for his small search engine company to compete with Google.
Google adds ChatGPT rival Bard to Gmail, YouTube, Docs and more
Google is integrating its Bard artificial intelligence chatbot with some of its other products, as the tech giant tries to keep up with fierce competition and get more people to use its AI tools.
Leaving Google’s search engine isn’t easy, government witness says in antitrust case
The U.S. Justice Department pressed ahead with its antitrust case against Google on Wednesday, questioning a former employee of the search engine giant about deals he helped negotiate with phone companies in the 2000s.
U.S. claims Google pays more than $10B annually to maintain search dominance
Prosecutors opened the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century on Tuesday by saying that the case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition.
In first tech antitrust trial in decades, DOJ takes on Google
Over the next 10 weeks, the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general will argue that Google has illegally abused its monopoly power to run roughshod over rivals, inking deals to ensure dominance.