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Google has pushed back at the DOJ’s proposals, calling them ‘radical’ and suggesting they could have ‘unintended consequences’ for consumers.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said that it may propose that Google should be forced to divest from some of its biggest businesses in order to address the company’s illegal monopoly on internet browsing.
In a court document filed yesterday (8 October), the DOJ laid out possible measures to curb Google’s monopoly, and said that as a remedy, the company could divest from Chrome and Android and could be limited or prohibited from pre-installation agreements with product manufacturers to prioritise the Google browser.
These suggested measures are part of the DOJ’s four-part proposed remedy addressing harms related to Google search distribution and revenue sharing, generation and display of search results, scale of advertising and monetisation, and accumulation and use of data.
The plaintiffs said that Google’s monopoly-funded revenue share payments stop smaller partner companies from conducting business with Google’s rivals. “Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow,” the DOJ said.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) as part of the search landscape “further complicates” the DOJ’s recommendations. “While not a substitute for general search – [AI] will likely become an important feature of the evolving search industry.” Remedies must account for “emerging market realities” to ensure that Google doesn’t create monopolies in these areas in the future, the DOJ said.
The DOJ said that Google’s “unlawful conduct” has persisted for more than a decade and therefore unwinding that “illegal behaviour” would take time; therefore, the proposed remedies might change as they continue to engage with “interested parties” before making a final recommendation.
In August, Google lost a major antitrust lawsuit in the US – being branded a monopolist by the ruling judge who pointed to the company’s de facto search engine as having key advantages over its rivals.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the court said in its verdict. At the time, Google said it would appeal the verdict.
In a blogpost yesterday, Google’s VP of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland pushed back heavily and said that the proposed changes are “radical” and could have “unintended consequences” for consumers, businesses and US competitiveness.
Mulholland said that divesting from Chrome and Android could stop these services being free for customers. “Make no mistake: Breaking them off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store,” she wrote.
The DOJ is expected to file a more detailed proposal with the court by 20 November, Reuters reports.
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