--- title: "Multiplayer" subtitle: "How the landmark antitrust case against Google had to start over, and from somewhere else" author: "Lorenzo Ancona" date: 2025-09-17 language: en words: 1104 canonical: https://artifactstech.substack.com/p/multiplayer license: CC BY 4.0 cite_as: "Multiplayer by Lorenzo Ancona, Artifacts, 2025-09-17. https://artifactstech.substack.com/p/multiplayer (CC BY 4.0)" --- # Multiplayer ***“Google is a monopolist,** and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly\[…\]in general search services and search text advertising **through a web of anticompetitive practices**”,* [wrote Judge Amit Mehta back in August 2024](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html). That line set the tone for what was supposed to be the biggest antitrust reckoning in tech since Microsoft in the 90s. And so it started the evaluation of some **remedies** proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, that [we covered extensively in Artifacts](https://artifactstech.substack.com/p/pulling-linchpins) last year. They included what may read like a Silicon Valley nightmare: **force Google to sell Chrome, tear up its default search deal with Apple, maybe even split off Android.** This could’ve been HUGE. **But it wasn’t, eventually.** A couple of days ago, the **Judge Mehta published a 223-page case with all the remedies significantly watered down:** - **No Chrome sale.** According to Mehta, breaking it off wouldn’t restore competition, and in any case it wouldn’t feel “natural.” **Alphabet keeps its browser**, which happens to be the gateway for 7 out of 10 internet users (with Google as the default search engine) - **No end to default search deals.** Apple will keep cashing Google’s checks (20 billion dollars a year, for the record) and Google will keep getting all that iPhone traffic. - The one real concession: **Google must share parts of its search index data** with rivals like DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, OpenAI, and Perplexity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **But really, the reason things didn’t go further is external**. There’s a new elephant in the room - two letters: **AI.** [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KCnl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F923619e7-3511-4671-8fe9-b5b4de6e4989_1290x652.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KCnl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F923619e7-3511-4671-8fe9-b5b4de6e4989_1290x652.png) Yep, we read the 223-page doc, **[and you find it highlighted here!](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OxJZsRuomagGP3rEkAVYRvPdHuLzdHpk/view?usp=sharing)** Mehta put it clearly: this case started in a different (search) world: **back when “search” meant typing words into a box and getting ten blue links.** **Today, AI has scrambled the field.** The remedies that made sense in 2020 would be useless in 2025. **You don’t fix yesterday’s monopoly if tomorrow’s competition looks completely different.** And therefore, ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B5cc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc164cb4-a5d2-4611-b6ae-e6d543670fbc_1272x386.png) You need “**humility”** as you cannot **“gaze into a crystal ball”.** And as the issues you’re dealing with changed in a direction you cannot forecast, **the remedies need to change as well.** Here’s the real takeaway: **one of tech’s landmark antitrust cases ended, not with fireworks, but because AI stepped onto the field.** Suddenly, the competition is between a whole new cast of players. **And if we’re to give AI search a shot,** as I wrote back in November 2024 😇, *[“Piecemeal solutions won’t be enough.](https://artifactstech.substack.com/p/talking-to-the-internet) **[Structural remedies are needed.”](https://artifactstech.substack.com/p/talking-to-the-internet)*** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ That’s why the meaty remedies - Chrome, Android, Apple deals - vanished. **The only thing left standing is data sharing**, a bet that competition in the AI search era won’t be about who has the best lawyers or the biggest checks to Apple, **but who has the fuel to train models.** ***What data?*** Google will need to share **parts of its search index, the corpus of web pages and information that feeds its results page.** But this does not include other data associated with those results, including information about the quality of web pages. ***Why data?*** Because it might finally level the field. Smaller rivals like Perplexity or DuckDuckGo have the smarts but not the raw material. Without access to a real index of the web, they’ll never catch up to Google’s decades of crawling and ranking. **With some extra fuel, they just might.** [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4HuE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F214d02f3-8762-4cb3-9a63-d09cad4a90be_1536x1024.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4HuE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F214d02f3-8762-4cb3-9a63-d09cad4a90be_1536x1024.png) yeah okay data may not be like fuel cause they are potentially endless but you get it. The DOJ put it bluntly: a newcomer can probably build a search system that answers 80% of queries in the short run. **It’s the remaining 20%** - the weird, hyper-specific, often forgotten corners of the internet - **that Google has locked down.** **Sharing data is supposed to fill that gap.** Maybe. This way, the competition should shift from who has, inevitably, the best data (Google) to **who’s best at AI.** [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LxNk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe905a94f-a8be-4528-8d78-00bb686142f9_1248x870.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LxNk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe905a94f-a8be-4528-8d78-00bb686142f9_1248x870.png) as claimed by Eddy Cue, VP at Apple The playing field hasn’t changed much - **it’s still about who can pull quality search data and deliver it to users.** The pros call this the ***“ecosystem of information retrieval.”*** Now, though, there’s a new player you can’t ignore. For AI to succeed at parsing, ingesting, and refactoring information, **it needs more than just smarter algorithms.** If AI is ever going to become a normal part of how information gets distributed, **it has to reach a level where it can actually compete.** **All of this is through data**, and a remedy that acknowledges that, regardless of AI potential, its **adoption** will make it a thing, for real. And that’s where antitrust comes in: **it’s less about fixing the past than making sure tomorrow is open** - whatever it ends up looking like. Will sharing data be enough to make information retrieval different? *Too soon to say.* > ### **Save for Later** Quite interesting to see [how people are using ChatGPT](https://www.nber.org/papers/w34255), which is [getting safer](https://openai.com/index/building-more-helpful-chatgpt-experiences-for-everyone/) btw! And, well, there’ve been [some safety issues.](https://www.404media.co/nearly-100-000-chatgpt-conversations-were-searchable-on-google/) We may stop [handwriting](https://www.wired.com/story/the-end-of-handwriting/?bxid=5f43a3c889a7356e7e1b2114&cndid=61968307&hasha=dca445e23e26114858a48ad35040e287&hashc=2107626209cd615da922d357ec59a2f4a769eeec7e75a95e874cf17f98f1a7c1&esrc=MARTECH_ORDERFORM), but at least [ghosting should be forgiven!](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/is-ghosting-inevitable) Speaking of Google, you can now [pick and choose your sources](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicholasxthompson_there-is-a-wonderful-newfeature-on-google-ugcPost-7367245756266606592-YSWB). Speaking of sources, [why Wikipedia is still so good.](https://www.theverge.com/cs/features/717322/wikipedia-attacks-neutrality-history-jimmy-wales/?ueid=dca445e23e26114858a48ad35040e287) What if tech regulation goes [back to school?](https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/Industries/financial-services/blogs/digital-regulation-back-to-school-2025.html?id=uk:2sm:null:4dcom_share:5awa:6dcom:financial_services) Someone is doing [the math of AI energy consumption](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/) :) > ### **Where next?** ![Italian Tech Week 2025 - Get your pass!](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yh3O!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cb539b8-0602-4cd0-98c6-0c1d5643956d_1200x556.jpeg "Italian Tech Week 2025 - Get your pass!") **Artifacts will be covering Italian Tech Week in Turin from October 1st to 3rd.** [The agenda looks great](https://italiantechweek.com/agenda) - plenty of top speakers and a wide mix of topics! And a few more events where **Artifacts will be in as a media partner**! - *October 4:* [Bayram](https://bayramcosmopolitica.it/), Rome 🇮🇹 - *November 5–7:* [Mozilla Festival](https://www.mozillafestival.org/fr/), Barcelona 🇪🇸 - *January 23–24:* [Political Tech Summit](https://www.politicaltech.eu/), Berlin 🇩🇪 *If you’ll be there, **just hit reply to this email and let’s meet up!*** > ### **The Bookshelf** [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DDZm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0ca14b45-cd73-4335-a49d-c8f3d3b11372_1080x1080.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DDZm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0ca14b45-cd73-4335-a49d-c8f3d3b11372_1080x1080.png) If you’re curious about how our search for information has evolved - from oral storytelling all the way to Google and AI - **“The Information”** is a solid pick. It’s a deep dive, **best suited for the nerds among us**, but worth the read. 📚 **All the books** I’ve read and recommended in Artifacts are [here.](https://airtable.com/appK7fMPX1DMkQYzL/shrRh8TgI7GtmgBxM) > ### **Nerding** [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c653!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56bf0ffc-34a6-40ce-95b2-f1014ee56ce4_1080x1080.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c653!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56bf0ffc-34a6-40ce-95b2-f1014ee56ce4_1080x1080.png) If you use a Mac, this is a game changer. Everything is a keystroke away and shortcuts are so good. It’s like Spotlight on steroids. If you use a Mac, you’ll never go back from [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/). > ### **☕?** If you want to know more about Artifacts, where it all started, or just want to connect... [Let's grab a virtual coffee ☕](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ2ibxlzyU7rgnuoTgqXb_DFc19dfHmJeu1OAu17IY0_oHrtcJtvtctAJnMabirgZNx5Z5NAPGs0)