Following a landmark court ruling that found Google to be monopolising the online search market, the US Department of Justice is considering several sanctions options, including the unprecedented step of breaking up Alphabet Inc. This would be Washington’s first attempt in two decades to break up a company for illegal monopolisation, following failed efforts to split up Microsoft Corp Komersant ukrainskyi
reports with reference to Bloomberg.
The antitrust authorities are currently collecting information from third-party companies on possible sanctions. In addition to the split, less severe options are being considered, such as forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent the company from gaining an unfair advantage in artificial intelligence products.
If the DOJ moves forward with the spin-off plan, the most likely divisions to be divested are the Android operating system and the Chrome web browser. The possibility of selling AdWords, a platform for selling text ads, is also being considered.
The discussions at the Ministry of Justice intensified after the decision of Judge Amit Mehta on 5 August 2024, which found that Google had illegally monopolised the online search and text advertising markets. Google has announced its intention to appeal the decision.
Alphabet shares fell 1.4% to $161.95 in pre-market trading on Wednesday, 14 August. Representatives of Google and the Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the possible sanctions.
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Lawyers from the Ministry of Justice have expressed concern that the company’s dominance in search gives it an advantage in the development of artificial intelligence technologies. As part of the sanctions, the government may try to prohibit the company from forcing websites to allow their content to be used for some of Google’s AI-based products in exchange for appearing in search results.
The separation of Android, the operating system used on some 2.5 billion devices worldwide, is one of the most frequently discussed sanctions options. Judge Mehta found that Google requires device makers to sign agreements to gain access to its applications, such as Gmail and the Google Play Store.
Google paid up to $26 billion to companies to make its search engine standard on devices and web browsers, of which $20 billion went to Apple Inc.
Judge Mehta’s ruling also found that Google monopolised the ads that appear at the top of the search results page. These ads are sold through Google Ads and account for about two-thirds of Google’s total revenue.
Another option for sanctions could be to require Google to divest or licence its data to competitors such as Microsoft’s Bing or DuckDuckGo. Recently adopted rules on digital gatekeepers in Europe imposed a similar requirement that Google make some of its data available to third-party search engines.
Google is an American multinational technology company founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were graduate students at Stanford University. The company specialises in Internet services and software, but is best known for its search engine, which is the most popular in the world. Google also develops the Android operating system for mobile devices, the Chrome web browser, and other popular services such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, and YouTube.
In 2015, the holding company Alphabet Inc. was created to become the parent company for Google and several other subsidiaries. This made it possible to separate Google’s core advertising business from other ambitious projects and investments. Google’s main source of revenue is online advertising, in particular through Google Ads and AdSense.
Throughout its history, Google has repeatedly faced criticism and legal challenges related to privacy issues, tax practices, and monopolistic market position. Despite this, the company continues to be one of the leaders in technological innovation, actively investing in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and quantum computing. As of 2024, Google remains one of the most valuable and influential companies in the world.