Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during an interview for an episode of "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations" in New York, US, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. Pichai said it will take many years to resolve Google's antitrust battles, downplaying the idea that they pose an immediate threat to the company's business. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
As the government’s second antitrust trial heads towards closing arguments next month, the DOJ is contemplating asking a federal judge to compel Google to sell parts of its business to address the verdict of its first antitrust trial — that the internet giant has monopoly power with its search engine.
AP News reports that amidst the ongoing second antitrust case against Google, the DOJ is considering drastic measures to address the tech giant’s monopolistic practices related to its search engine, the focus of the first antitrust case. According to a recent court filing, federal prosecutors are weighing the possibility of asking a judge to force Google to sell off parts of its business in order to eliminate its dominance in the online search market.
The filing, submitted on Tuesday, marks the first step in a lengthy legal process aimed at devising remedies that could potentially reshape the company that has long been synonymous with internet search. The DOJ argues that Google has maintained control over the most popular distribution channels for more than a decade, leaving competitors with little incentive to vie for users.
To fully address the alleged harms caused by Google’s practices, the antitrust enforcers suggest that merely ending Google’s current control over distribution is insufficient. They emphasize the need to ensure that Google cannot exert similar control over the distribution channels of the future. As such, the department is considering requesting structural changes that would prevent Google from leveraging its various products, such as the Chrome browser, Android operating system, AI products, or app store, to benefit its search business.
