- The FTC indicates that a remedy should be “open” markets previously closed to competition
- Google must “share targeted parts of its search index” and more
- He could still have to sell Chrome and put an end to the exclusivity agreements
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has spoken out in favor of the Ministry of Justice’s proposal (DoJ) so that Google shares research data with competitors, declaring that the resolution would include sufficient confidentiality guarantees.
The proposal aims to break the illegal monopoly of Google in online research, according to a decision as a federal judge in August 2024. The company represents nine out of 10 of all research worldwide in April 2025, according to StatCounter data.
In order to comply with the DoJ’s proposals, Google must “share targeted parts of its research index, user and advertising data with certain competitors for a limited period with appropriate safety and confidentiality guarantees”.
FTC agrees with the DoJ’s proposal to combat the domination of the Google research market
The Commission explained in a dissertation that any recourse, including in the case of Google, should “actually open to competition a market which has been closed by the illegal constraints of the defendants”.
The brief concludes that the revised final judgment of the DoJ is “well designed to protect the privacy of users because it seeks to” open the “long-monopolized markets”.
We hope that, by increasing competition, Google will be forced to improve its privacy practices, marking a global victory for American citizens.
The proposal also includes the appointment of a compliance committee, but the DoJ always urges the court to force Google to yield its Chrome browser and stop paying Apple and others to define Google as default search engine for millions in the world.
Katherine White, assistant director of the FTC consumer protection office, said: “The confidentiality guarantees proposed by the DOJ are in accordance with the measures that the FTC has forced many companies to fight to combat confidentiality and data security failures.”
Techradar Pro Asked Google a comment on existing remedies and current proposals – any update will be published here.
