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I highly doubt this decision went all the way up to Page or Pichai.

Ultimately the buck stops there, regardless of whether they were directly responsible.

If this happened it’s because they built or facilitated a culture that does these things.

I would be surprised if, given the antitrust sensitivity around chrome, these decisions aren't being approved at a very high level.

That would ruin their plausible deniability.

My experience from other organizations:

* Corruption runs to the top.

* The top is very careful to communicate verbally, through implications, or otherwise.

Dunno about Google.

They've already been sued! Lawsuits already claims that chrome, with eg 60% US marketshare, is used as a distribution channel for google!

Any plausible deniability they have had is gone, and lawyers are in the loop for all sorts of decisions now. Not least because having counsel on a thread can help prevent that discussion from being subpoenaed.

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