The U.S. Department of Justice is considering asking a federal judge to force Google to sell part of its business to break up its online search monopoly.
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing late Tuesday that a judge could ask the court to release to competitors the underlying data that Google uses to power its ubiquitous search engine and artificial intelligence products. He also said that there is.
“For more than a decade, Google has dominated the most popular distribution channels, leaving rival companies with little or no incentive to compete for users,” antitrust enforcement officials wrote in the filing. I mentioned it inside. “To fully remediate these harms, we need to not only end Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensure that Google no longer controls distribution tomorrow.”
To this end, the department is considering seeking structural changes to prevent Google from leveraging products such as the Chrome browser, Android operating system, AI products, and app stores to benefit its search business. He said there was. Prosecutors also appeared to focus on Google’s default search contracts in their filings, saying any proposed relief would limit or prohibit those contracts.
LeeAnne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulation, said the Justice Department has “already made requests that go well beyond specific legal issues” in the case. “Government overreach in a fast-moving industry could have unintended negative consequences for American innovation and American consumers.”
“The government appears to be pursuing an overarching agenda that will impact many industries and products, and will have significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and America’s competitiveness,” Mulholland said. said.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in august Google’s search engine is illegally abusing its dominance to crush competition and stifle innovation. He plans to outline a court schedule on the proposed remedies next spring, with a decision expected by August 2025.
Google has already said it plans to appeal Mehta’s ruling, but the tech giant will have to wait until Mehta finalizes any remedies before doing so. George Hay, a law professor at Cornell University who served as chief economist for the Justice Department’s antitrust division for much of the 1970s, predicts the appeal process could take up to five years.
