Google CEO Sundar Pichai warns DOJ’s antitrust plan could “Kill” Google Search

New Delhi: Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai took the stand on Wednesday in the ongoing US vs. Google antitrust trial, warning that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed remedies could effectively dismantle Google Search. 

Testifying during the remedies phase of the case, Pichai described the DOJ’s plan as a “de facto divestiture” that would cripple the company’s ability to innovate and compete, potentially rendering its search engine unviable, stated news reports. 

The trial, presided over by US District Judge Amit Mehta, followed Mehta’s August 2024 ruling that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in online search. The DOJ’s proposals include forcing Google to share its search data and index with competitors at “marginal cost,” licensing its search technology, and potentially divesting assets like the Chrome browser. 

The government argued these measures are necessary to unwind Google’s dominance, fueled by exclusive default search deals with companies like Apple and Samsung, which cost Google $26 billion in 2021 alone.

Pichai told Google’s lead attorney, John Schmidtlein, that the DOJ’s data-sharing demands would allow rivals to reverse-engineer Google’s proprietary technology. “It’s not clear to me how to fund all the innovation we do if we were to give all of it away at marginal cost,” he said, emphasising that Google invested $49 billion in research and development last year, much of it in search and AI. He warned that the remedies could compromise user privacy, noting, “People search on Google in their most vulnerable moments, and there seems to be no privacy protections.”

The CEO also defended Google’s stewardship of Chrome, which the DOJ seeks to spin off, arguing that the browser’s $1 billion annual investment has driven innovation unmatched by competitors. Pichai called the combined remedies “so far-reaching, so extraordinary” that they would remake Google and have “many unintended consequences” for the tech sector and US leadership in AI.

The DOJ, which rested its case on Tuesday, contends that Google’s monopoly stifles competition and innovation, citing testimony from OpenAI’s Nick Turley, who said access to Google’s search index would enhance rival AI models like ChatGPT. The government argued that Google’s control of search data gives it an unfair edge in the AI race, reinforcing its dominance.

Google’s defense, now underway, will include testimony from executives at Mozilla and Apple. The company plans to appeal Mehta’s ruling once the remedies phase concludes, a process Pichai said could take years. Mehta is expected to issue a decision on penalties by August 2025, but Google may delay enforcement during appeals.