'People use Google because they want to, not because they’re forced to': As Google appeals antitrust ruling, it also asks to delay data sharing with rivals

The saga of Google versus the US Department of Justice continues. On Friday, the multi-billion dollar corporation asked the Court to delay some of its proposed antitrust remedies while Google appeals the ruling.

To recap, back in 2024 U.S. district judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had violated antitrust laws when it used exclusivity agreements to maintain its monopoly over online search. A number of remedies were proposed, including Google's divestment of the Chrome browser (which will ultimately not come to pass), and most pertinently right now that the search giant shares its data with rival companies.

The DOJ secured this latter remedy among others back in September, with the US District Court ordering "Google to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to rivals and potential rivals." Google is now asking to postpone the sharing of this data while it appeals the DOJ's ruling that it holds an illegal monopoly.

To date, many have criticised how the DOJ is handling its case against Google, saying that many of its remedies so far have amounted to little more than 'a slap on the wrist.' But Google insists data sharing would be a step too far at this juncture.

In court documents filed on Friday, the company also makes the case that sharing this data before hearing its appeal would "would irreparably harm Google because competitors will gain access to vast amounts of Google’s proprietary information." The company argues that, regardless of the result of its appeal, making this disclosure beforehand would reveal trade secrets it would have no way to recover (via Reuters).

Vice president of regulatory affairs at Google, Lee-Anne Mulholland, wrote in a blog post, that the sharing of Google's data would additionally "risk Americans’ privacy and discourage competitors from building their own products—ultimately stifling the innovation that keeps the US at the forefront of global technology."

Mulholland also wrote on the ruling more broadly, saying, "As we have long said, the Court’s August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they’re forced to."

To me, this feels especially disingenuous. To speak only about myself, I use Google products like Search because many of my corporate accounts already use GSuite. It's also how many folks read my work, so I have to at least have a professional understanding of Google search (you do not want to get me started on Google allowing its AI to take a hatchet to PC Gamer's carefully crafted Discover headlines).

But even outside of work, I chose an Android phone and its integration with the Google Play app store because I personally dislike Apple's pricey walled garden even more. It's arguably not much of a choice when it's at best a two-horse race.

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