Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) say a breakup of Google is on the table as they propose solutions to address the search giant’s monopoly behaviour in search.
Per The Verge, a 32-page filing in Google’s search antitrust case from the DOJ outlines remedies lawyers are considering. These include applying a consent decree to keep an eye on Google’s behaviour or forcing it to sell off parts of the business, like Chrome, Android, or Google Play.
Elsewhere, the DOJ is considering options aimed at addressing user behaviour, such as forcing Google to provide support for “educational-awareness campaigns” to help users choose the general search engine that would work best for them.
One of the problems DOJ lawyers highlighted was Google’s control of search distribution and how much money the company pays to be the default option. In the filing, the lawyers wrote that Google’s “monopoly-funded revenue share payments disincentivize its partners from diverting queries to Google’s rivals.”
Google responded to the filing with a blog post on Tuesday, calling the DOJ’s considerations “radical changes.” The blog post includes direct responses to some of the potential solutions in the DOJ filing, including claims that splitting Chrome or Android off from Google would “break them,” changes to online ads would make them “less useful for consumers” (when was the last time you saw a useful ad?), and that hampering Google’s AI tools could “hold back American innovation.”
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