Google anti-trust trial: Android deals might be Department of Justice’s smoking gun
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the views or positions of any organization with which I am affiliated, including my employer.
On Tuesday this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Google both made their opening arguments in what is the first anti-trust trial in 25 years. Though regulating Big Tech has been a big part of public discourse lately, no cases have gone to trial. The last public trial was DOJ v. Microsoft in 1998, where the court ruled that Microsoft did indeed abuse its monopoly position to suppress competition in the browser market.
Since then, no regulatory agency (FTC or DOJ) has successfully won a major anti-trust case against Big Tech. There’s two things I love about this trial:
If the DOJ wins, it will be a HUGE win for them and lay out a much-needed precedent for regulating Big Tech
Recently, I have been jaded about US regulators’ ability to reign in Big Tech, particularly the FTC which has had multiple missteps, but the DOJ’s suit is very well-drafted, focused and targets specific anti-competitive mechanisms, and I walk away deeply optimistic at the end of this analysisThere is a ton of news coverage on the topic but it lacks nuance, so for the sake of this article, I will primarily refer to the original source (DOJ’s 58-page complaint against Google). Let’s dive into a few things systematically:
Anti-trust and the consumer welfare standard
Outline of DOJ’s case against Google
Analysis of DOJ’s arguments
What lies ahead
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