U.S. said to consider a breakup of Google to address search monopoly
Google was found last week to have violated antitrust law by illegally maintaining a monopoly in internet search. Now discussions over how to fix those violations have begun.
Justice Department officials are considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against the search giant, said three people with knowledge of the deliberations involving the agency and state attorneys general who helped to bring the case. They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system, two of the people said.
Other scenarios under consideration include forcing Google to make its data available to rivals, or mandating that it abandon deals that made its search engine the default option on devices like the iPhone, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process is confidential. The government is meeting with other companies and experts to discuss their proposals for limiting Google’s power, the people said.
The deliberations are in their early stages. Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has asked the Justice Department and Google to come up with a process for determining a fix in the case by Sept. 4. He has scheduled a hearing on Sept. 6 to discuss next steps.
Last week’s ruling that Google was a monopolist was a landmark antitrust decision, raising serious questions about the power of tech giants in the modern internet era. Apple, Amazon and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, also face antitrust cases. Google is scheduled to go to trial in another antitrust case — this one over ad technology — next month. Any remedies in Google’s search case are likely to reverberate and influence that broader landscape.
The stakes are acutely high for Google, which became a $2 trillion internet juggernaut by building an online advertising business and others on top of its search engine. Judge Mehta could reshape the core of the company’s business or order it to abandon longtime practices that have helped to cement its dominance. Google generated $175 billion in revenue from its search engine and related businesses last year. [Continue reading…]