It’s interesting to hear directly from Mozilla’s CEO Laura Chambers on the U.S. search engine monopoly case Google lost:

Some of the remedies proposed in the case risk the future of our Firefox browser and Gecko browser engine—the last remaining non-Big Tech browser engine.

Read: “If one of the remedies is Google is no longer allowed to pay to be a default search engine in other companies browsers, we’re hosed.”

The outcome of this case isn’t just about one company, it’s about the future of the internet and the stakes couldn’t be higher. 

Agreed. This is massive. Losing Firefox means losing one of the few remaining browser engines, where we need that ecosystem diversity to remain healthy. Losing Firefox means making Google more of a monopoly in many ways, not less.

I’m kinda hoping for the do-little outcome Gruber laid out:

I think the contract between Google and Apple for TAC is currently like this:

Google will pay Apple $X per web search that goes to Google from Safari, and Apple will make Google the default search in Safari.

After the dust settles on the DOJ case against Google, it might look like this:

Google will pay Apple $X per web search that goes to Google from Safari, but Apple is under no obligation to make Google the default search in Safari.

(TAC = Traffic Acquisition Cost)

We can legislate a better web, but let’s do it in a way that protects choice and privacy, not in a DOGE-y chainsaw-y way.