There is always going to be some gray line that, if crossed, gets you into antitrust territory, and Alphabet is incentivized to get as close to that line as pos

There is always going to be some gray line that, if crossed, gets you into antitrust territory, and Alphabet is incentivized to get as close to that line as possible without going over it. And it's large enough to invest considerable resources into figuring out just how close to the line it can get. That's why language like this matters so much to Alphabet. When you're operating close to the line, even if you haven't gone over it, you don't want to give anybody any reason to suggest you're an inch further than you actually are.