The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering asking a federal judge to break up Google’s operations after a ruling earlier this year found that the tech giant violated antitrust laws by maintaining an illegal monopoly over the online search market.
Possible fixes include getting Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system.
The department said that Google’s “unlawful conduct persisted for over a decade and involved a number of self-reinforcing tactics.”
“Unwinding that illegal behavior and achieving the goals of an effective antitrust remedy takes time, information ... and careful consideration,” the DOJ wrote in the filing to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.
On Tuesday, the department said it is weighing up remedies that would “limit or end Google’s use of contracts, monopoly profits, and other tools to control or influence longstanding and emerging distribution channels and search-related products,” such as its browsers, search apps, artificial intelligence summaries, and agents.
The DOJ is considering “behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google Search and Google Search-related products and features—including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence—over rivals or new entrants,” the department said in the filing.
Other actions being considered include prohibiting Google from paying to have its search engine pre-installed on phones and other devices and forcing the company to share the data it uses for Google Search and AI-assisted search features.
“Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow,” the DOJ said.
Such contracts, which officials said were worth billions, ensured Google remained the default search engine on devices from Apple and Samsung, among others, effectively forcing competitors to find alternative ways to reach users.
Google has vowed to appeal Mehta’s ruling. The company maintains that its search engine has gained users due to its quality, adding that it faces robust competition from Amazon and other websites and that users can set alternative search engines as their default.
Google will respond in detail to the DOJ’s ultimate proposals when it makes its case in court next year, she said.
“However, we are concerned the DOJ is already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case,” Mulholland said. “Splitting off Chrome or Android would break them—and many other things. ... Breaking them off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices, and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store.”
Under that ruling, the tech giant must grant third-party app stores access to the full catalog of apps in its Google Play Store and allow those rival stores to be distributed through the Play Store itself.
Google said it also plans to appeal that decision.
