Google has been locked in a remedies trial for the past three weeks. The trial is in relation to its search monopoly, an antitrust trial that Google lost last year. As the remedies trial was wrapping up, FTC actually decided to support DOJ’s proposal aka the list of remedies for Google.

FTC agrees with the DOJ’s plan to break Google’s grip on search market

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made it clear that it supports the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ’s measures are aimed at opening up the online search market, to break Google’s monopoly.

The FTC, according to Reuters, said that increasing competition will put more pressure on Google to improve its privacy practices. During the trial, Google argued that the DOJ’s data-sharing proposal, in particular, would give away Google’s intellectual property and ultimately harm user privacy.

The FTC also agrees that a committee to oversee compliance should be appointed. It should be similar to the agency’s privacy-related settlements.

The DOJ has a number of demands, including the sale of Chrome

On top of the data-sharing demand, one of the DOJ’s biggest requests is that Google sell Chrome and stop making multi-billion dollar payments to Apple and other companies to keep Google search front and center on their devices.

Google argued that making its agreements non-exclusive is the right approach. The company has already started doing so, and sees no need to put a stop to the practice entirely.

Anthropic, on the other hand, an AI startup and Google’s partner, had something to say too. The company said that requiring Google to give the DOJ advance notice of its proposed AI investments and partnerships would create a “significant disincentive” for the company to invest in smaller AI companies.

The company essentially said that the move would harm, and not benefit, AI competition. As a side note, Google has a minority stake in Anthropic, which is worth a lot, billions of dollars.

This article first appeared on Android Headlines

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