Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) finalized its proposed judgment in its case against Google, arguing for an unprecedented breakup of the company’s products and services that would hurt consumers and the small businesses that use them every day to compete and reach new customers.
“The DoJ’s proposed remedies are actually an attempt to legislate based on flawed forecasts of the future in a manner that disregards the consequences small businesses in the app economy would bear,” said Morgan Reed, president of ACT | The App Association. ”The DoJ is underestimating the unintended consequences of their proposed sledgehammer of a judgment on small businesses, which would ultimately pull the short straw.”
The proposed judgment includes calls for Google to divest its Chrome browser and Android — both of which provide critical platforms for small businesses to tap into global markets providing seller and developer services, and fostering deep wells of consumer trust. The remedies further target “self-preferencing,” many examples of which are typical, necessary management functions for integrated online marketplaces. Marketplaces must be able to self-preference in order to make them attractive places to do business, guaranteeing that small businesses know where to find consumers. Removing access to these critical and integrated services would damage small businesses’ ability to compete, which would raise costs for consumers. Similarly, mandating open access to Google’s search data assumes that all users of search advertising and data want commoditized, free access instead of high quality services in which the provider has an incentive to invest. This assumption is wrong, especially for small business consumers of those services.
Small businesses in the app economy also stand to gain immensely from Google’s continued investment and resource allocation to emerging markets like those around generative AI. Barring Google from investing in these markets would lower the bar and lessen available resources for innovators, resulting in lower quality products, defeating the purpose of antitrust law. The App Association will continue to advocate for competition policy that benefits small businesses and app developers and preserves access to these key services.
About ACT | The App Association and Our Members
The App Association is a global trade association for small and medium-sized technology companies. Our members are entrepreneurs, innovators, and independent developers within the global app ecosystem that engage with verticals across every industry. We work with and for our members to promote a policy environment that rewards and inspires innovation while providing resources that help them raise capital, create jobs, and continue to build incredible technology.