Can Google be trusted?

Moving forward, trust is going to be more important than ever for Google.

Regulators at the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission are weighing the biggest threat to the company to date: Potential antitrust cases related to whether Google unfairly used a dominant position in search to harm competitors. European officials, who have been working in concert with the FTC on the Google probe, are engaging in settlement talks with Google. The FTC, however, has stayed mum on what’s it’s planning to do, although the agency earlier this year hired a big gun — former Justice Department prosecutor Beth Wilkinson — to pursue the antitrust investigation. If the FTC decides to settle rather than go to court, observers say any deal will need to incorporate a powerful enforcement tool to make sure Google doesn’t run afoul of any agreement. “A lot of folks would say Google is not trustworthy in terms of voluntary actions and consent decrees,” said a senior Judiciary Committee staffer. And if Google needs a quick lesson in how credibility can impact high-stakes antitrust scenarios, it doesn’t have to look any further than one of its biggest rivals: Microsoft.

There is “a certain trust-based relationship, and when you diminish that with government enforcers and the people that are in charge, it absolutely affects government enforcement decisions,” said Makan Delrahim, who served as a top Department of Justice antitrust regulator under the Bush administration. “The government isn’t just some inanimate object,” Delrahim said. “They’re people. And just like in your personal life, if you are unfaithful to them the first time, you may make it work, but the fact that you did will always be in the back of their mind. Usually, if you repeat it a second time, then that’s the end of the trust between the two.”