WSJ What’s News - Google’s Big Win and Why it’s Good News for Apple

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

A.M. Edition for Sept. 3. After a 2024 ruling that Google operated a search monopoly, a U.S. district judge rejected a forced spinoff of Chrome and allowed the company to continue paying Apple to be the default search provider on Safari. Plus, GOP lawmakers release more than 30,000 pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And in a lavish military parade in Tiananmen Square, Xi Jinping flaunts China’s growing military power and deepening ties to Washington’s adversaries. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. google dodges a legal bullet in the justice department's antitrust case plus a house committee releases tens of thousands of pages of documents related to geoffrey epstein and flexing its military might china

displays its latest high-tech weapons in a dazzling parade china's showing it has strength it has the ability to fight and possibly win a war with the United States and its allies, including a nuclear one. It's Wednesday, September 3rd. I'm Azha Sukhri for the Wall Street Journal. Here is the AM edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. We begin with a landmark antitrust ruling that's set to upend Google's search engine in a major crackdown on the company's dominance. In the 226-page decision, Federal Judge Amit Mehta also issued a win for Google, though,

by rebuffing the U.S. government's request to break up the company. Journal Tech reporter Sam Shackner joins me now. Sam, just talk us through what this ruling means for the search engine Google as we know it now. This stems from a decision last year where Judge Meta found that Google engaged in illegal practices to preserve a search engine monopoly. And the question here was, okay, what remedies was the government going to apply and force Google to do in order to remedy that? And what the judge ruled is that Google can't pay to be the exclusive search engine on devices. So Android devices in the future, Google won't be able to force device makers to make it the exclusive search engine.

And it's also going to have to turn over some of its search data to a set of rival search engines. So those are going to affect its business. But I think actually the big headline here is that increasing competition in the search market from generative AI have sort of changed the balance of competition and search. And the judge actually says in the ruling that that weighed on this. And in many ways, the remedies are far less sweeping than some Google detractors had hoped. And certainly than the Justice Department had asked for. And in many ways, this is sort of what Google had said ought to happen. Regardless of this decision, it is going to be felt across.

the tech industry, am I right? Well, one thing that people have been looking at closely is whether Google would continue to be able to pay Apple to be placed as a default at the center of its devices. And Apple, in some ways, relies on that income. And the judge actually said that they can, that there would actually have hurt some other companies to not allow Google to keep paying those kinds of fees. So that's something that actually isn't going to change because of the ruling. The increased data could certainly help other companies catch up.

up in terms of the way they train their algorithms and their search engines. In general, what we see is a weakened Google in face of some of these other search opportunities. You know, you have companies like Perplexity, OpenAI's ChatGPT that are muscling their way into the way people search for content online. And whether the 10 Blue Links that are the core of Google's money-making engine remain so central a decade from now is an open question. You say that Google is likely to be weakened by this, but this was also a ruling that avoided the worst possible antitrust penalties for Google, am I right? I would say that this ruling was largely a victory for Google.

The government had asked for Google to be forced to sell its Chrome browser. That was deemed to be too far. And it's still allowed to engage in certain types of payments. It's not going to have to put a choice screen on Android devices to allow. allow people to sort of, as in the EU, when you first buy an Android device under some of the decisions here, you actually get a choice between different search engines to choose as your default. That's not going to be the case in the U.S. Mita did not want to go into what he described as product design. And so, you know, in that sense, it's a victory for Google, and it's going to

preserve a large amount of a status quo. And finally, Sam, how are investors greeting this news? Well, in aftermarket trading shares in Google Parent Alphabet were up significant. significantly. Also Apple, which relies on those payments from Google that I mentioned. And, you know, at least some analysts have said that this is a victory for Google. They avoided the worst potential penalties. And they're allowed to continue paying Apple to be at the center of its devices, which in the U.S. specifically is a huge benefit for both Google and Apple. General Tech reporter Sam Shekner, thank you so much for your insights. Always a pleasure to be with you. The world's biggest contract chipmaker, TSM, will not be able to send chipmaking equipment from the U.S. to China in 2026. That's after the Commerce Department revoked a waiver that enabled the Taiwanese semiconductor company to do so without seeking prior U.S. approval. Asia business editor Peter Landers says the move will make it even harder for Chinese manufacturers to access foreign chips.

TSM being a non-Chinese company was given special treatment, you might say, and allowed to import the chip-making equipment it needed in China on the theory that it's not giving it to a Chinese company. It's TSM itself using that equipment. The U.S. wants to crack down on critical U.S. technology going to China, whether it's to Chinese companies or even in this case a Taiwanese company. They don't like the idea of U.S. technology helping China to produce more semiconductors. Following the news, U.S. listed TSM shares slipped off hours, with the stock also down in Asian trading. Coming up, China shows off its latest weaponry in a parade designed as a pointed message to the West. That story and more after the break. You can get protein at home or a protein latte at Tim's. No powders, no blenders, no shakers. Starting at 17 grams per medium latte, Tim's new protein. protein lattes, protein without all the work, at participating restaurants in Canada.

A House committee released more than 30,000 pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein yesterday as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill. Republicans are under pressure to make public more details on Epstein and emphasized that the release was the first in what were expected to be several tranches of documents. The release comes as some House lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Johnson, met with victims of Epstein behind closed doors. Talking to reporters, Johnson said it was the responsibility of Congress

to seek justice for the victims. No stone unturned. I mean, that's the commitment, and it's bipartisan, and I'm heartened that members of Congress are willing to work together on that. And look, I will say this again, I'm emphasised. this is full participation of the administration and the White House. The President has the same desire, so long as we're protecting the innocent victims.

Democrats said the released documents were mostly materials about the disgraced financier that had already been made public. A federal appeals court has ruled that President Trump can't use an 18th century wartime law to speed up deportations. The ruling blocks are key administration push that's destined for a final showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel agreed with immigrant rights lawyers that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not intended to be used against gangs like Tren de Aragua. The Venezuelan group Trump targeted in his march invocation. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately

respond to a request for comment. President Trump has said the U.S. military struck a drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, killing 11 people on board. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the so-called lethal strike and reiterated Trump's warning posted on social media directed at anybody, quote, thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. This is a counter-drug operation. We're going to take on drug cartels wherever they are and wherever they're operating against the interest of the United States.

The president's top obligation is to secure the national interest and the national security of our people. I know of no president that means that more than this one. Our president now, President Trump. It comes after the president earlier this year directed the Pentagon to prepare options to use military force against Latin American drug cartels, which he designated as foreign terrorist organizations. The country's president, Nicolas Maduro, warned that Rubio was leading Trump down the path of war and promised to fight back if provoked. The U.S. deems Maduro an illegitimate leader for alleged. election rigging, drug trafficking and human rights abuses. And finally, China has put on a dazzling show of its military might

at a lavish parade overnight. President Xi Jinping oversaw the display with more than two dozen other world leaders, including those from Russia, Iran and North Korea. Also there was the journal's chief foreign affairs correspondent, Yarislav Trophimov. Unlike Russia, which has annual military parades, China has them once every several years. And so this one comes at a critical historical moment. China's showing that it has strength,

it has the ability to fight and possibly win a war with the United States and its allies, including a nuclear one. And probably the most important piece of equipment that was paraded in front of all these world leaders were the new Chinese missiles, including the strategic ballistic missile abuse-based nuclear program, the Dongfeng 5C, the Air 5C, which is a giant three-part missile that has a multiple warhead, independent warhead,

that is really very difficult to shoot down and that has the ability to hit any point in the world. China does look like it's closing the gap with the US on several fronts militarily, but over the weekend we had the summit between China, Russia and India. Where does the balance of power now lie? So China is reflexing its diplomatic muscle. It's showing its ability to rally international support. And it's not just nations that are opposed to the U.S. that are coming to these celebrations. We've seen the president of Turkey, a member of NATO. We've seen the leader of Slovakia come to pay homage to Chinese power. And China feels like if President Trump's alienation of allies and partners, especially through the trade war, that the U.S. has unleashed, is giving China an opportunity to gather international support and backing for its ambitions to really displace the U.S. as the leading world power

and to create a new international order that is more suited to China's interests and that maybe Russia and Iran and other rogue states would also be supporting. Journal Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Yaroslav Troufimov. Thank you so much. Thank you. And that's it for what's news. For this Wednesday morning, today's show was produced by Kate Bolivant and Daniel Bark. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. I'm Azhar Sukri for the Wall Street Journal.

We'll be back tonight with the new show. Until then, thanks for listening.