Prystai: Breaking up Google will Hurt Consumers, Not Help

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent effort at breaking up Google, forcing it to sell its Google Chrome browser or mandating it share troves of user data with its competitors comes from a place of valid concerns, but could have led to judicial overreach and potentially harm consumers with its broad nature.

Technology has always moved at an intense clip with no guarantee that yesterday’s winners will stay at the top of the mountain like we’ve seen with IBM, Yahoo, and even briefly Microsoft and this has never been more true than with the emergence of AI and it’s dramatic impact of tech across the board.

The ruling from the court not only found that the emergence of AI “changed the course of this case” but that Google is facing intense competition for the future of AI and the web. Leaving this case in an area of not being as applicable to today’s world and certainly the search and internet of tomorrow.

Further by rejecting the most extreme remedies, the court recognized that DOJ’s proposal would hurt every American consumer, student, and small business in some way. Millions of people day use Google’s products and services in their daily lives and DOJ’s efforts would have worsened their experiences, raised prices, and potentially exposed their data to bad actors including those overseas. Additionally, the short-sighted remedies the court would have unnecessarily and unfairly weakened a key American company at a time of technological revolution with AI.

The world is just beginning to understand the capabilities of AI and how it will change our economy in the next year, decade and century, and our country will need it’s best and brightest working on building it in a way that empowers Americans and continues our natural defense.

Finally, with an issue as complex and murky as this, it feels unfair and in many ways to have the action come from a single individual and an unelected one at that. Instead if there are still serious grievances that are not addressed by the market or ever changing pace of technology are addressed through engagement with democratically elected officials to ensure all citizens have a direct say on something that would impact them as deeply as some of the more extreme remedies pursued in this case.

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Andrew Prystai of Omaha is the co-founder of Event Vesta, an event discovery and promotion platform that was recognized by AIM as the 2021 Tech Startup of the Year. Prystai has held leadership roles on the Nebraska Tech Collaborative’s Pioneer committee, Greater Omaha Chamber’s Young Professionals Committee, and was recognized as a Midlands Business Journal 40 under 40 awardee in 2020. The views expressed in this column are those of Andrew Prystai and are not intended to reflect the opinion of any organization he is associated with.