Biden Justice Department Proposes Breaking Up Google in Historic Effort To Rein in Big Tech

The Justice Department is considering telling a federal judge to order Google to break off parts of its business as a solution to the company’s iron grip on online search. The proposal was just one of the remedies offered by the Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general on Tuesday in a 32-page filing submitted to the district judge, Amit Mehta, who found in August that Google has built an illegal monopoly. The ruling marked a major win for antitrust enforcers who have been working for years to curb the dominance of big tech companies, particularly as the artificial intelligence business has continued to expand. “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 Justice Department wrote. As a result, the DOJ wrote that it was “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants.” Google currently processes 90 percent of internet searches in America, and its parent company, Alphabet, is the fourth largest company in the world with a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion. The brief marks the most significant effort by Washington to limit the dominance of big tech companies since the Justice Department unsuccessfully attempted to do so with Microsoft two decades ago. Google, however, slammed the proposal as “radical” and “sweeping” and claimed that it goes “well beyond the legal scope of the Court’s decision about Search distribution contracts.” In a blog post on Google’s website, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, wrote that an enforced breakup could have “significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness” including “skewing investment, distorting incentives, hobbling emerging business models.” Ms. Mulholland also made clear that Google would be taking the case to court. “This is the start of a long process and we will respond in detail to the DOJ’s ultimate proposals as we make our case in court next year,” she wrote. The Justice Department is slated to file a more detailed solution by November 20. Google will then have the opportunity to offer its own proposal by December 20.

Biden Justice Department Proposes Breaking Up Google in Historic Effort To Rein in Big Tech

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