US proposes breakup of Google to end search monopoly

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed a series of remedies aimed at stopping Google from maintaining its monopoly in online search.

In a court filing late on Wednesday, the DOJ said the technology giant should sell off its Chrome web browser.

Government lawyers also recommended that District Judge Amit Mehta force the firm to stop entering into contracts with companies – including Apple and Samsung – that make its search engine the default on many smartphones and browsers.

The proposed remedies stem from a landmark anti-competition ruling in August, in which Judge Mehta found Google illegally crushed its competition in online search.

The Department of Justice was joined in the filing by a group of US states that argued the changes will help to open up a monopolised market.

“Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled,” the government lawyers wrote.

In response, Google said that with its proposals, the DOJ “chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”

“[The] DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision,” said Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google.

“It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”

Google is expected to counter with its own proposed remedies by 20 December.

Judge Mehta is set to issue a decision by the summer of 2025.

Google’s search engine accounts for about 90% of all online searches globally, according to web traffic analysis platform Statcounter.

Government attorneys also said that Google’s ownership and control of the Chrome browser – along with the Android operating system – have allowed it to funnel users to its search engine.

Part of the proposal included barring Chrome from re-entering the browser market for five years.

The DOJ also proposed court oversight of Android to ensure the company refrains from using its ecosystem to “favour its general search services and search text ad monopolies.”

The DOJ case against Google was filed in the closing months of the first administration of Donald Trump.

With the President-elect set to return to the White House on 20 January, questions have been raised about whether his new administration would take a different approach to the case.

“It would be odd for the second Trump administration to back off a lawsuit that they filed themselves,” said Rebecca Allensworth, associate dean for research and anti-trust professor at Vanderbilt Law School.

Even if Trump sought to stop the case from proceeding, which Prof Allensworth said is unlikely, the states listed as plaintiffs could proceed on their own.

“So, given that, they can’t make it go away,” she said. “I think that the federal government will stay on it but just how hard they’ll push and what they’ll ask for, I think, is really uncertain.”

The proposed changes could play an important role in restoring competition to the online search market, according to Professor Laura Phillips-Sawyer of the University of Georgia School of Law.

The user data that Google secured because of its dominance in search helped “refine Google’s search algorithm and sell text ads,” Professor Phillips-Sawyer said.

“But, those contracts also make it impossible for any newcomer in search to secure a distribution channel, and without any real possibility of reaching consumers, no one will invest in such innovation.”

She says if Mehta accepts the governments proposals, competitors to Google – including new entrants – may have the chance to thrive.