US regulators reportedly want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine, after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.
The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the US Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google’s industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favouring its own search engine, AP reported.
Though regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.
The broad scope of the recommended penalties underscores how severely regulators operating under President Joe Biden’s administration believe Google should be punished following an August ruling by US District Judge Amit Mehta that branded the company as a monopolist.
The Justice Department decision-makers who will inherit the case after President-elect Donald Trump takes office next year might not be as strident, the report said.
The Washington, DC court hearings on Google’s punishment are scheduled to begin in April and Mehta is aiming to issue his final decision before Labour Day.
If Mehta embraces the government’s recommendations, Google would be forced to sell its 16-year-old Chrome browser within six months of the final ruling.
But the company certainly would appeal any punishment, potentially prolonging a legal tussle that has dragged on for more than four years.
AP said Google didn’t have an immediate comment about the filing, but has previously asserted the Justice Department is pushing penalties that extend far beyond the issues addressed in its case.
Besides seeking a Chrome spinoff and a corralling of the Android software, the Justice Department wants the judge to ban Google from forging multibillion-dollar deals to lock in its dominant search engine as the default option on Apple’s iPhone and other devices.
It would also ban Google from favouring its own services, such as YouTube or its recently launched artificial intelligence platform, Gemini.
Regulators also want Google to license the search index data it collects from people’s queries to its rivals, giving them a better chance at competing with the tech giant.
On the commercial side of its search engine, Google would be required to provide more transparency into how it sets the prices that advertisers pay to be listed near the top of some targeted search results.
The measures, if they are ordered, threaten to upend a business expected to generate more than $300 billion in revenue this year.
Trying to break up Google harks back to a similar punishment initially imposed on Microsoft a quarter century ago following another major antitrust trial that culminated in a federal judge deciding the software maker had illegally used his Windows operating system for PCs to stifle competition.
However, an appeals court overturned an order that would have broken up Microsoft, a precedent many experts believe will make Mehta reluctant to go down a similar road with the Google case.
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