US Considers Asking Court To Break Up Google As It Weighs Remedies In The Antitrust Case

According to a court document, the US Department of Justice is considering asking a federal judge to break up Google after its ubiquitous search engine was ruled an illegal monopoly, but this is just one of many potential remedies being considered.

In court papers filed late Tuesday, government lawyers outlined a number of potential remedies, including limiting how Google’s artificial intelligence mines other websites to deliver search results and prohibiting Google from paying companies like Apple billions of dollars per year to ensure that Google is the default search engine presented to consumers on devices such as smartphones.

Tuesday’s lawsuit is the first stage in a months-long legal process to devise solutions that might transform a corporation that has long been associated with internet search.

US Considers Asking Court To Break Up Google As It Weighs Remedies In The Antitrust Case

“For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users,” the antitrust investigators stated in their filing. “Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.”

In August, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google’s search engine had illegally used its dominance to suppress competition and innovation. He has detailed a timeframe for a trial on the suggested remedies next spring, with a judgment expected by August 2025.

The court submission is the first time the government has indicated what types of remedies it intends to pursue, but given Mehta’s thorough approach, the government may eventually decide not to pursue remedies such as divestment.

The Justice Department will undertake discovery in the coming weeks and present a more specific proposal next month.

In response to the complaint, Google’s vice president of regulatory relations, Lee-Anne Mulholland, stated that the Department of Justice is “already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues” in this case. “Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers.”

Google has already stated that it intends to appeal Mehta’s decision, but the tech giant must wait until he has finalized a remedy before doing so. George Hay, a Cornell University law professor who served as the chief economist for the Justice Department’s antitrust section for the majority of the 1970s, thinks that the appeals process might take up to five years.

During a lengthy trial in Washington, much of the evidence focused on Google’s agreements with other tech companies to guarantee that Google is the default search engine on consumer devices. According to prosecution testimony, Google spent more than $26 billion in 2021 alone to lock in these default agreements.

As a result, much of the debate over potential remedies has centered on whether Google would be prohibited from negotiating such partnerships. In Tuesday’s brief, lawyers described the distribution agreements as a “starting point for addressing Google’s unlawful conduct.”

To that aim, the department stated that it is considering requesting structural changes to prevent Google from using products such as its Chrome browser, Android operating system, AI tools, and app store to boost its search business.

“We’ve invested billions of dollars in Chrome and Android,” Mulholland wrote. “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.”

Another suggestion presented by the government would allow businesses to opt out of having their information utilized by Google when it provides AI-enhanced results to consumer search requests.

“Google’s ability to leverage its monopoly power to feed artificial intelligence features is an emerging barrier to competition and risks further entrenching Google’s dominance,” the legal team argued.

Google’s blog post reaction stated that artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving industry with severe commercial competition.

US Considers Asking Court To Break Up Google As It Weighs Remedies In The Antitrust Case

“There are enormous risks to the government putting its thumb on the scale of this vital industry,” according to Mulholland.

Next month, the government will present a more specific proposal for addressing Google’s anticompetitive conduct. In December, Google will present its own suggestions about how to make repairs. Prosecutors will present their final proposal in March 2025.

Google has been under increasing regulatory pressure on both sides of the Atlantic, with European Union antitrust regulators arguing that breaking up the corporation is the only way to address competition concerns about its digital ad business.

On Monday, a federal judge ordered Google to open up its Android app store to competitors as punishment for maintaining an illegal monopoly in the industry. A federal judge in Virginia is considering whether Google has an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology.

SOURCE | AP