Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its final proposed remedies in the U.S. v. Google case—measures that, if adopted, would deal a severe blow to independent browsers and consumers.

Reducing Choice for Consumers

Mozilla has publicly opposed these misguided proposals, warning that barring all search payments to independent browsers like Firefox (which competes with Google’s Chrome) would “tilt the playing field further into the hands of a few dominant players, diminishing consumer choice and weakening the broader internet ecosystem.”

Mozilla warned that the DOJ’s proposed remedies ignore the mission of anti-trust litigation–to protect consumers and market competition. According to Mozilla President Mark Surman, “[t]hese proposed remedies prohibiting search payments to small and independent browsers miss the bigger picture—and the people who will suffer most are everyday internet users.”

Rather than creating a more competitive browser market, Suman adds that, “[t]he big unintended consequence here is the handing of power from one dominant player to another… shutting out the smaller, independent challengers that actually drive browser innovation and offer web users privacy and choice.”

A Direct Hit to Independent Browsers

The DOJ’s proposed remedies prohibit search deals between Google and all browser developers, including independent players like Mozilla, who rely on payments from these search deals to compete. This fails to address search competition while actively harming browser competition:

— Larger companies win. Other companies who own browsers– like Microsoft– don’t benefit from search revenue, but smaller, independent browsers do. As Mozilla receives about 86 percent of its revenue from its search deal with Google, blocking search payments “would put Mozilla’s ability to develop and maintain Gecko [its browser engine] at risk,” potentially eliminating an independent, cross-platform web browser.

— The result? Less choice for consumers. “Instead of promoting a fair fight,” said Mark Surman, Mozilla’s president, “the DOJ’s remedies would tilt the playing field further into the hands of a few dominant players.”

Learn more about how the DOJ’s Google remedies are harmful to consumers, competition, and national security here.