the tech giant Google, valued at US$2 trillion, may be forced to divide. A week after the court decision that condemned it for monopoly in the search market, the US Department of Justice is studying this possibility, according to reports from New York Times e Bloomberg News.
ADVERTISING
Among the measures most discussed by Justice Department lawyers, is the possibility of dismembering the operating system Android. Other options include forcing the sale of AdWords, Google's search ad program. Google, and the possible spin-off of the Chrome browser, according to reports.
A Justice Department spokesperson said it is evaluating the court's decision and will consider next steps in accordance with the court's directions and the applicable legal framework for antitrust remedies.. No decisions have yet been made. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment, but the company plans to appeal the decision. THE Google faces another antitrust lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, with a trial scheduled for next month.
Other options discussed by the Department of Justice include forcing the Google to share data with competitors and institute measures to prevent the company from gaining an unfair advantage in artificial intelligence products, according to sources familiar with the matter.
ADVERTISING
During the trial, it was revealed that the Google paid to companies, including Apple, more than $26 billion in 2021 to remain the default search option on Safari. These agreements allowed the Google build a monopoly on search and unfairly suppress competition, the judge concluded.
Neil Chilson, former chief technology officer at the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), said the idea of splitting the Google it was “totally fanciful”.
“Nothing in Judge Mehta’s fairly standard antitrust approach suggests that a split is a plausible remedy. A division not addressedaria the core conduct that the court found problematic: exclusive contracts for standard placements,” he said.
ADVERTISING
Shortly after the judge's ruling, competing search engine DuckDuckGo proposed banning these exclusive deals.
The verdict, handed down last week, concluded that the Google violated antitrust law, spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the world's default search engine. The decision is seen as the first major victory for federal authorities against the market dominance of large technology companies.
Federal antitrust regulators sued Meta Platforms, Amazon.com and Apple over the past four years, alleging that companies illegally maintained monopolies.
ADVERTISING
In 2004 the Microsoft reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in a case that alleged the company forced the use of the Internet Explorer browser on Windows users.
Alden Abbott, former general counsel of the FTC, stated that the division of the FTC's business Google it would be “disastrous”, but unlikely.
“The Court of Appeals in the case EUA vs. Microsoft (2001) categorically rejected the division of that company, even though the illegal monopolizing conduct was not found by the court to create beneficial efficiencies. The division of the Google, which is a positive thing. A division of Google it would be one of the most economically destructive acts in the annals of American antitrust,” he said.
ADVERTISING
Read also
