Things didn’t look good for Google after a judge found that the company’s search engine is a monopoly. But Northeastern University technology and antitrust experts predict that the remedy the judge imposed — that Google share search data with “qualified competitors” — will make Google executives very happy.
“This ruling is a major victory for Google,” says John Kwoka, Neal F. Finnegan distinguished professor of economics at Northeastern. “‘Remedies’ that depend on the incumbent monopolist for their effectiveness have a dismal track record.” Christo Wilson, professor and associate dean of undergraduate programs at Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, concurs. “I don’t think this ruling is strong enough to make a difference,” Wilson adds, saying that Google executives are probably “elated” at the news.
Wilson, who has done digital consumer protection research on online platforms including Google, says that he finds the judge’s remedy hard to reconcile with the finding that Google search is a monopoly. “They just seem at odds,” Wilson says. “You identified a problem, but you are abdicating your responsibility to solve the problem.”
