On April 15, 2025, Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) issued a cease-and-desist order to Google, citing violations of Japan’s Antimonopoly Act. At the center of the issue: how Google promoted its search services on Android devices through revenue-sharing deals with smartphone makers and carriers.
This strategy—ensuring the Google Search app or widget takes top billing on devices—has been in place for years. In exchange for this prominence, partners receive a slice of Google’s vast ad revenue. It’s a formula that has helped solidify Google’s dominance in mobile search.
But isn’t this response coming a bit too late?
Google isn’t just the default on people’s phones—it’s the default in their minds. Even if alternative search engines were to suddenly appear on every Android device, would users really switch? Or would they just ignore them as unnecessary clutter?
Instead of chasing old battles, it might be wiser for regulators to shift their focus toward artificial intelligence. AI is rapidly becoming the new frontier for power and influence—one shaped by opaque, privately-controlled algorithms that impact everything from what we read to what we buy.
This is the place where early oversight truly matters.
Why it matters to us
For Android developers, Linux users, and digital independence advocates, this isn’t just about search engines. It’s about who shapes our access to knowledge—and how the next generation of algorithms could quietly shape our realities.
The future is being written now. Not in courtrooms five years from now—but in the lines of code being deployed today.