Following recent court decisions finding Google guilty of illegally monopolizing the online search market, the Department of Justice is considering options to restore competition, including the potential breaking up of the tech giant.
Bloomberg Reports The Justice Department is considering the possible breakup of Google following a landmark ruling that found the company guilty of illegally monopolizing the online search and search text advertising markets, the first time Washington has considered breaking up a company for illegal monopoly since its failed attempt to break up Microsoft two decades ago.
The Justice Department is also considering less stringent options, such as requiring Google to share more data with competitors or taking steps to prevent the company from gaining an unfair advantage in its AI products, according to people familiar with the deliberations. But regardless of which course of action the government chooses, it is likely to seek a ban on the types of exclusivity agreements that have been at the center of its lawsuit against Google.
If the Justice Department decides to move forward with the breakup plan, the most likely items to be sold are the Android operating system and Google’s Chrome web browser. Authorities are also considering a possible forced sale of AdWords, the platform the company uses to sell text ads.
The Justice Department talks have intensified following Judge Amit Mehta’s August 5 ruling that found Google had illegally monopolized the market for online search and search text ads. Google has said it intends to appeal, but Judge Mehta ordered the parties to begin planning a second phase of the litigation that would include the government’s competition restoration proposal, which could also include a separation request.
The government’s plan still needs to be approved by Prime Minister Mehta, who will then instruct the company to follow its directions. A forced breakup of Google would be the most significant breakup of a U.S. company since AT&T was broken up in the 1980s.
In his ruling, Judge Mehta found that Google requires device makers to sign contracts to access apps like Gmail and the Google Play Store. Those contracts also require that Google’s search widget and Chrome browser be installed on devices in a way that makes them impossible to remove, effectively stifling competition for other search engines.
The ruling also found that Google had a monopoly on the ads that appear at the top of search result pages, so-called search text ads. These ads, sold through Google Ads, formerly known as AdWords, accounted for roughly two-thirds of Google’s total revenue, reaching more than $100 billion in 2020.
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Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship.
