US DOJ considers breaking up Google to end its monopolistic actions

Summary

• The US DOJ is considering breaking up Google to curb its monopolistic actions.
• As a part of the proposal, Google could have to divest Android and Chrome.
• Other less severe options are also being considered, including sharing data with competitors.

In a landmark decision on August 5, 2024, the US Department of Justice ruled Google an illegal monopolist for its anticompetitive search engine dominance practices. This included paying billions of dollars to Apple and Samsung to ensure Google Search remained the default search engine on their devices. In the ruling, Judge Amit P. Mehta called out Google for its monopolistic behavior but did not provide any solution for its illegal actions. A new report details that the US Department of Justice is considering breaking up Google as one of the possible solutions.

The US DOJ will provide Justice Mehta with various remedies to keep Google’s monopolistic actions in check. Multiple options are reportedly being discussed, including breaking up the company. Other options include forcing Google to share more data with its competitors and a complete ban on deals that make Google Search the default search engine on Samsung and Apple devices. The company pays billions of dollars annually to these companies for such deals.

Bloomberg reports that if the DOJ pursues its plan to break up Google, Android and Chrome will be the “most likely units for divestment.” Apparently, the officials will also try to force the company to sell its AdWords business. If not, Google might have to make AdWords work with other search engines.

The report further claims that some of Google’s competitors have raised concerns over how its dominance over search gives it an unfair advantage in developing its AI products. One proposed solution requires Google to share its search data with its competitors.

The DOJ officials are seemingly considering proposing that websites be allowed to prevent Google from using their content for its AI products. Although the company allows web publishers to block AI scraping of their content, they cannot currently opt out of Google’s AI overviews without blocking their content snippets from appearing in search.

Google’s search dominance is under threat

Google has confirmed it will appeal the August 5, 2024 decision. However, Judge Mehta has already asked both parties, the DOJ and Google, to devise possible solutions to end the latter’s monopolistic actions by September 4, with a hearing scheduled for September 6.

As of now, it is too early to tell what steps the US DOJ will propose to Judge Mehta to end Google’s monopolistic actions. The court must first accept them before ordering Google to comply. None of this takes into account Google appealing the decision and getting a possible stay on the matter for the near future.

It is rare for the DOJ to propose a move as big as breaking up a company to keep its monopolistic actions in check. In June 2000, a US District Court ordered Microsoft’s breakup because of its monopoly over the browser market on Windows. Eventually, Microsoft settled the matter with the DOJ and changed some of its business practices instead. Over two decades later, we might see a similar story play out with Google as well.