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DOJ Floats Google Breakup, Other Remedies in Antitrust Case
A federal judge will now decide which proposed actions to take after he ruled Google’s search business was an illegal monopoly.
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Peter Tsai Photography via Alamy Stock
Big Tech could soon get a little smaller.
In a late Tuesday filing, the US Department of Justice offered several suggestions -- including a breakup of Google’s key business collaborations -- after a landmark federal court case ruled in August that the search giant held an illegal monopoly.
The 32-page DOJ document includes several suggestions for DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta to consider, including “behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search.” Chief among the suggested sanctions is ending lucrative exclusive agreements such as the $26 billion deal Google has with Apple and Samsung.
Google’s latest quarterly revenue filing showed a $305.6 billion haul in 2023 -- coming mostly from its advertising revenue from search. According to Statcounter, Google enjoys a search engine market share of more than 91% globally. The Justice Department says that dominance is proof that competition is being unfairly held back.
“Google’s anticompetitive conduct resulted in interlocking and pernicious harms,” according to the DOJ filing. Google dominance, it says, strangles search markets that “are indispensable to the lives of all Americans, whether as individuals or as business owners, and the importance of effectively unfettering these markets and restoring competition cannot be overstated.”
In a blog post, Google fired back, writing that “DOJ’s radical and sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.” Google, and its parent company Alphabet, said they plan to appeal the court decision. Alphabet stock fell more than 1% in early morning Nasdaq trading.
“We believe that today’s blueprint goes well beyond the legal scope of the Court’s decision about Search distribution contracts,” wrote Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, in another blog post.
Mulholland said the potential breakup of Google’s Chrome and Android business, which cost the company billions of dollars to develop, would be a huge blow to the companies and consumers who have come to depend on the services. “Make no mistake: Breaking them off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store,” she wrote.
Mehta’s August decision on Google said the company’s arrangements with browser providers and Google’s Android-powered operating systems stifled competition and led to Google’s search engine market dominance. Google argued that its popularity stemmed from the public’s trust in its product.
“This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Google’s Kent Walker, president of global affairs, shot back in a statement. “As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
In his decision, Mehta wrote that “Google has not achieved market dominance by happenstance. It has hired thousands of highly skilled engineers, innovated consistently, and made shrewd business decisions.”
The DOJ is expected to file a more detailed roadmap for remedies on November 20. Google will have a chance to propose its own remedies afterwards.
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