Google may have to split up, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. That would require parent company Alphabet to separate the Chrome browser and Android operating system from the rest of Google. A court may compel the company to do so at the request of the U.S. government.
In August of this year, a judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. Justice in America, at least the part that monitors competition, is now looking for ways to break Google’s might. That would be a major financial drain on the company but theoretically give more room to competitors.
Trying to prevent dominance in the AI era
A Justice Department statement says that Google’s present dominance must be broken to prevent it from extending that dominance into ‘tomorrow.’ Specifically, authorities want to prevent Google from leveraging its huge lead in the tech landscape into continued dominance in the AI era, Reuters reports.
The Justice Department could also ask the court to end Google’s pre-installation on all kinds of devices, which, for many users, makes the search engine and other features more or less standard on their tech. Google has paid big money to be the default option on all kinds of devices, from smartphones to laptops to individual browsers. For example, it paid Apple 26.3 billion dollars (nearly 24 billion euros) in 2021 for exactly this reason.
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Google: we just deliver quality
Not surprisingly, Google completely disagrees with these far-reaching plans. The company thinks the proposed solution by the DoJ is a ‘radical’ approach and says the measures ‘go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case’. Consequently, the company has appealed. According to Google, it owes its market dominance to providing a high-quality product that many people want to use. Moreover, there would already be plenty of competition to choose from.
Earlier this week, in another case, a judge also ruled that Google must open up its Play Store to third parties. Those should also be able to offer Android apps through their own storefronts. In yet another case, Google may have to break up its web advertising business.
Also read: U.S. DOJ is gunning for Google: what would a breakup mean?