In a move that could partially break up Google, the US Department of Justice has filed a proposal seeking court approval to break up the internet giant’s monopoly on search.
In a document filed in the United States district court for the District of Columbia, the DOJ has called Google a “monopolist”.
What does the DOJ say?
“Google has manipulated its control of Chrome and Android to benefit itself, while sharing monopoly profits under conditions to induce third parties across the ecosystem to help Google maintain its monopolies,” the document said.
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The DOJ further adds that Google’s conduct has, among other things, made it the near-universal default for search and ensured that virtually all search access points route users’ valuable queries and interaction data to Google.
“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways. Google’s conduct has resulted in significant anticompetitive effects,” the DOJ said.
The solution
The DOJ has called for Chrome to be divested.
“Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled,” the DOJ said.
Third-party payments
The DOJ also proposed that Google should stop third-party payments that exclude rivals by advantaging Google and discouraging procompetitive partnerships that would offer entrants access to efficient and effective distribution.
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It also wants Google to disclose data sufficient to level the scale-based playing field it has “illegally slanted, including, at the outset, licensing syndicated search results that provide potential competitors a chance to offer greater innovation and more effective competition”.
The DOJ also wants to reduce Google’s ability to control incentives across the broader ecosystem via ownership and control of products and data complementary to search.
Divesting Android
The department has also proposed that Google should divest Android, which would prevent Google from using the platform to exclude rival search providers.
The DOJ also prohibited Google from owning or acquiring any interests in search rivals, potential entrants, and rival search or search ads-related AI products. It also suggested that Google must immediately divest any such interests it owns.
How big is Google’s monopoly
According to StatCounter, Google controls 89.33 percent of the search engine market share worldwide as of October 2024. Next comes Microsoft’s Bing with 4.15 percent, followed by Russia-based Yandex (2.8 percent), Yahoo (1.33 percent), China’s Baidu (0.83 percent), and DuckDuckGo (0.69 percent).
Google’s Chrome also has a 66.68 percent browser market share, followed by Apple’s Safari at 18.07 percent, Microsoft’s Edge (5.25 percent), Firefox (2.65 percent), Samsung Internet (2.23 percent) and Opera (2.2 percent).
Google’s response
Kent Walker, president, global affairs and chief legal officer, Google & Alphabet, said the DOJ’s approach would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses.
Walker said the proposal would endanger the security and privacy of millions of Americans, and “undermine the quality of products people love, by forcing the sale of Chrome and potentially Android”.
More importantly, it would require disclosure to unknown foreign and domestic companies of not just Google’s innovations and results, but even more troublingly, Americans’ personal search queries.
