The US government is considering breaking up the world’s largest search engine, Google, which it accuses of causing “pernicious harms” to Americans.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been exploring so-called remedies following a historic court verdict in August that concluded Google illegally crushed its online search competitors.
In a 32-page filing, DOJ lawyers outlined a framework of possibilities for D.C. District Court Judge Amit Mehta to examine, including “behavioural and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search.”
One of the primary remedies for search distribution is to limit Google’s relationships with device manufacturers, which currently ensure that Google’s search engine is pre-installed and configured as the default on a large number of smartphones and browsers.
According to the DOJ, this has helped Google maintain its dominant market share, which now accounts for 90% of all internet searches in the United States.
To level the playing field, the government is considering implementing educational programs that tell customers about alternative search engines.
Google wrote in a blog post that the “DOJ’s radical and sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.”
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, saw its stock fall by more than 1% in Wednesday morning trading.
“Google’s unlawful conduct persisted for over a decade and involved several self-reinforcing tactics,” the DOJ said in a court filing.
It stated that potential competitors were unable to gain a foothold in the online search sector.
DOJ concluded that due to a lack of competition, Google was able to charge unusually high fees for advertisements “while degrading the quality of those ads and the related services”.
We similarly reported that the DOJ filed an antitrust case against Visa, arguing that the business has an illegal monopoly on the usage of debit cards in the United States.
