The Department of Justice (DOJ) views Google as a monopolistic entity and is considering measures that could lead to the breakup of the company, potentially forcing the unwinding of essential components like Chrome, the Google Play Store, and Android. In response, Google is advocating for less drastic solutions while also planning to appeal last August's ruling from Judge Amit Mehta, who labeled Google a monopolist.
In a recent blog post, Google's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, outlined a series of remedies intended to address DOJ concerns while avoiding the severe consequences of a forced breakup. She highlighted a key disagreement between the DOJ's expansive proposals and the court's ruling, which primarily focused on Google's distribution agreements for search. Notably, the government did not accuse Google of anti-competitive actions regarding its browser, Chrome, or its AI technologies.
Mulholland warned that the DOJ's approach could negatively affect U.S. consumers, harm American technological leadership, and ironically compromise user privacy by compelling Google to share private search data with competitors. According to her, this could hinder Google's innovation and product improvements. Google's proposed changes do not align with the more radical government demands for corporate restructuring.
Reiterating the potential impact on stakeholders, Mulholland remarked, "We don't propose these changes lightly... but we believe that they fully address the Court's findings, and do so without putting Americans' privacy and security at risk or harming America's global technology leadership."
Among the proposals, Google suggests allowing browser companies, like Apple and Mozilla, to continue featuring Google Search while allowing different default search engines across various platforms. This flexibility would result in distinct default engine agreements for devices such as the iPhone and iPad, with contracts lasting for a year, as per antitrust law expectations.
If the government gets its way, Google might have to spin off Chrome. | Image credit-PhoneArena
