Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has proposed new limits on revenue-sharing agreements with companies like Apple, which set Google’s search engine as the default on their devices and browsers.
These proposals come in response to an ongoing antitrust case regarding Google’s online search dominance.
In August, US District Judge Amit Mehta determined that Google had unlawfully stifled competition in the search market, a ruling that the company has vowed to challenge in an appeal. In a legal filing submitted last Friday, Google argued that it should still be permitted to maintain these contracts with other companies, but with more diverse search options available to users.
Google has proposed new measures that would allow for different default search engines to be set on various platforms and browsing modes. The company also suggested that its partners be allowed to change their default search provider at least once every year.
These proposals contrast sharply with the more stringent remedies put forward by the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) last month. The DOJ recommended that Judge Amit Mehta force Google to stop its revenue-sharing agreements and even require the company to sell Chrome, the most widely used web browser in the world.
Google’s search engine currently holds about 90% of the global online search market, according to Statcounter, a web traffic analysis platform. In response, Google called the DOJ’s proposed remedies “overbroad” and argued that even its own counterproposals, which were submitted to meet a court-imposed deadline, would impose costs on its partners.
Judge Mehta is expected to rule on the proposed remedies by August, following a trial.