The Department of Justice and Google have completed their closing arguments in the epic battle for the open web’s future.
The DoJ argues that Google is an illegal monopoly that used schemes and wiles, fair and foul, to seize control of search, browsers, and ad tech.
Judges found it guilty three times, and now two of those judges are deciding what to do about it.
The DoJ wants Google’s search monopoly broken, and key to that is forcing it to hand over Chrome, which handles two thirds of all the world’s web browsing.
The individual who must make that decision is Judge Amit Mehta, who has shown a frankly astonishing depth of knowledge of search and what makes the open web work.
But if that wasn’t enough, he’s now been handed a new responsibility.
On the final day of the closing arguments, he was asked to decide the future of AI. Boom. Just like that.
It’s barely had a mention up to now, but it’s always been lurking in the background, as the elephant in the room.
Now both sides have asked him to add the future of AI, GenAI search, and copyright, to what’s already a mind-bending decision.
Hundreds of pages of testimony were presented on the final day in the US on Friday.
Judge Mehta has promised to give his final decision by August. I’ll be posting the full details of this amazing last-minute twist shortly…
If you work in publishing, this is your entire future in his hands. Watch this space…
Share this post