Justice Department considering push for historic Google breakup after landmark antitrust ruling: report

The Justice Department is reportedly considering a push for a historic breakup of Google’s business empire, after a federal judge ruled that the Big Tech giant has an illegal monopoly over Internet search.

DOJ lawyers may ask Judge Amit Mehta to order Google to sell parts of its business to potential sale candidates, including its Android operating system, Chrome web browser and AdWords advertising platform, it reported Bloomberg.

A potential sale of the Android operating system, the world’s most widely used operating system, has generated more discussion among DOJ lawyers drafting the agency’s plan, the newspaper said, citing sources with knowledge of the agency’s discussions.

The feds are also weighing less onerous options, such as requiring Google to share data with rival search engines like DuckDuckGo and Microsoft’s Bing.

They may also seek to place limits on Google’s artificial intelligence products to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage. For example, the DOJ could ask Mehta to block Google from asking companies to allow it to delete their content in exchange for appearing in search results.

In a landmark ruling last week, Mehta ruled that Google is a monopolist that has relied on billions of dollars in payments to partners like Apple, Samsung and AT&T, including $26.3 billion in 2021 alone, to ensure that its search engine enabled by default on most smartphones.

Mehta ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act in two markets, general search services and general text advertising, and found that the default search engine agreements are exclusive and have anticompetitive effects.

The DOJ is expected to ask Mehta to block Google from offering default deals in the future.

Google shares fell more than 1% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

A proposal to break up Google would be the first of its kind by the feds in more than 20 years. The DOJ won a major antitrust case against Microsoft, but later abandoned a push to break up the company in 2001.

The DOJ will outline its proposed solutions to address Google’s monopoly during the second set of court proceedings related to the antitrust case, which are scheduled to begin in September.

Google declined to comment. DD could not immediately be reached for comment.

Google has already indicated that it plans to appeal Mehta’s decision.

This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we should not be allowed to make it readily available, the company’s president of global affairs Kent Walker said in a statement last week.