() – For the first time since AT&T was dismantled in the so-called Baby Bells four decades ago, the US Government is considering breaking up one of the largest and most important monopolies in the world: Google.
The US Department of Justice, in a court document filed late Tuesday, said it could recommend dismantling Google’s core businesses, separating Google’s search business from Android, Chrome and the App Store. Google Play.
“That would prevent Google from using products like Chrome, Play and Android to favor Google search and Google search-related products and features, including hotspots and emerging search features, such as artificial intelligence, over rivals or new compatibilities,” the Government said in its judicial document.
The Justice Department’s recommendation comes after a federal judge ruled in August that Google had violated US antitrust law with its search business. The ruling, in which the judge called Google a “monopolist,” set the stage for changes to Google’s oldest and most important business and how millions of Americans get information online.
Google, in a blog post, called the government’s potential plan “radical,” arguing it could worsen customer experience: Google said it could “break” Android and Chrome, hamper innovation in AI and force the company to share personal information with competitors, undermining people’s privacy.
“This case concerns a set of search distribution contracts,” the company said in its blog post. “Instead of focusing on that, the Administration appears to be pursuing a broad agenda that will impact numerous industries and products, with significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness.”
Google shares fell 1.9% in the first minutes of trading on Wednesday before recovering slightly, even as major indexes rose.
The US government argued in the case that Google had used multiple tactics and interconnected products under its control to exclude competitors in search, leaving consumers with few options and a less innovative market for search engines.
The case centered on exclusive contracts that Google has spent billions of dollars forming with other technology companies, including Apple, to make it the default search provider on smartphones and web browsers. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that those agreements were anticompetitive.
Now that the court has determined that Google violated the law, the next stage of the fight involves determining what sanctions the company will face for its misconduct. That phase of the case is moving forward even as Google has promised to appeal Judge Mehta’s underlying decision. Along with the appeal, the entire process could take months or even years to unfold.
Some of the specific sanctions the Justice Department could seek are a possible ban on Google’s exclusivity agreements, the government document said Tuesday. That could lead to seismic changes for smartphone users, ending the years-long deal with Apple, for example.
The Justice Department added that it could ask a judge to require a “choice screen” on electronic devices that would allow consumers to choose their preferred search engine from the start, rather than allowing Apple or Google to set the default for them. . Such choice screens are the norm in other markets such as the European Union.
The US government could also seek to prevent Google from promoting its search engine in other products it owns. For example, you could request a rule that prohibits Chrome from directing searches through Google by default. This type of behavior, known as self-biasing, has increasingly come under scrutiny from U.S. competition lawmakers and regulators.
The Justice Department also showed that it is thinking about how Google’s current power in search could lead to an insurmountable advantage in artificial intelligence, given the amount of data needed to train sophisticated AI models. The Government said it is considering a proposed penalty for Google that would allow websites to opt out of having their content collected for Google’s AI training purposes or appearing in AI-generated summaries of search results. And prosecutors added that they could even seek to force Google to provide rivals with the models of software used in Google’s AI-assisted search functions.
“Google’s ability to leverage its monopoly power to fuel artificial intelligence features is an emerging barrier to competition and risks further entrenching Google’s dominance,” the document said.
The case has been described as the largest technology antitrust case since the US government’s antitrust standoff with Microsoft at the turn of the millennium.
By saying in August that it planned to appeal Judge Mehta’s decision, Google repeated an argument it had made in court that its search engine is the most popular among consumers because it is the best.
“As this process continues, we will stay focused on making products that people find useful and easy to use,” Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in a post on X at the time.
What ultimately happens with Google could set the stage for possible remedies in other ongoing antitrust cases against tech giants. Google faces a separate case brought by Justice Department lawyers, along with 17 states, alleging that its advertising business is anticompetitive. Amazon, Apple, Meta and Ticketmaster are also involved in antitrust legal battles.
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