The most critical threat facing Google is the antitrust lawsuit led by the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. court ruled that Google has maintained its monopoly in the search market through illegal means, and as a follow-up measure, it is strongly demanding the sale of Google's core asset, the web browser 'Chrome'. As Chrome has served as a huge conduit for the influx of people into Google's search engine, the demand to separate it is interpreted as the government's will to root out Google's market dominance. This can be said to be a result that goes beyond the simple issue of corporate division and reflects the country's strong regulatory will to reorganize the ecosystem order of the digital economy.

Legal sanctions are not limited to the antitrust field. A Los Angeles jury recently shocked the industry by finding Meta and Google responsible for the addictive problem of social media. This is an example that solidifies the recognition that companies must take responsibility for the mental pain suffered by users who have been exposed to the platform's algorithms since childhood. This sets a new milestone for how companies should deal with the social costs of ‘addiction’ hidden behind the convenience of technology, and even suggests the possibility that similar lawsuits will spread globally in the future.

Diplomatic friction in the global market is another axis that is holding Google back. Many countries, including Korea, are attempting to protect their telecommunications companies and platform companies by paying network usage fees and introducing platform fair competition laws. However, the U.S. government defines these digital regulatory movements as unfair discrimination targeting the country's big tech companies and is applying strong trade pressure, including mentioning Article 301 of the Trade Act. This is a head-on collision between countries' will to protect digital sovereignty and the United States' desire to protect the interests of its own companies, which is expected to become a hot potato in future global trade policy.

Internally, we are experiencing a double whammy of worsening profitability and improving management efficiency. Although we are trying to secure future growth engines by producing technological achievements such as weather prediction AI using DeepMind, the reality is showing a cold report card of large-scale layoffs. The additional workforce restructuring announced by CEO Sundar Pichai proves that Google has passed the golden age of unlimited growth and has entered a survival stage of improving its structure and reducing costs. Google's internal concerns, lost between innovation and efficiency, are deepening in conjunction with the external crisis the company is currently experiencing.