I would be surprised if, given the antitrust sensitivity around chrome, these decisions aren't being approved at a very high level.
* Corruption runs to the top.
* The top is very careful to communicate verbally, through implications, or otherwise.
Dunno about 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.