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Regulatory agencies want to break up Google

2024-11-21 20:05:28, Tech CNA

US regulatory agencies are asking the court to break up Google to deprive it of the ability to stifle competition with its software that dominates Internet search. The court ruled that Google has maintained a monopoly on the market in an abusive manner throughout the last decade.

The split is proposed in a 23-page filing filed late Wednesday by the US Department of Justice. The document provides for wide-ranging punitive measures, including the sale of the Chrome web search engine and restrictions on the Android mobile platform, which automatically uses Google's search engine to navigate the web.

The sale of Chrome "would once and for all end Google's control over this vital (Internet) access tool and allow rival Internet search programs to access the program that is the primary gateway to internet for many users".

While not requiring Google to sell the Android platform as well, authorities are asking the court to make it clear to the company that it could be asked to give up its mobile operating system if the watchdog continues to find evidence of copyright violations. further.

The wide range of proposed punitive measures underscores the position of the regulatory agencies of President Biden's administration for a harsh punishment of Google, following the decision taken in August by Judge Amit Mehta, which defined the company's activity as monopolistic.

It is thought that decision makers at the Justice Department, who will inherit the issue after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, may not be so strict. Court hearings in the capital Washington are expected to begin in April, and Judge Mehta aims to deliver a final decision before September.

If Judge Mehta decides to uphold the government's recommendations, Google will be forced to sell its 16-year-old web browser, Chrome, within six months of the final ruling. The company, however, is expected to appeal the decision, possibly prolonging a legal battle that has already been going on for four years.

In addition to these measures, the Justice Department is asking a judge to stop Google from reaching multibillion-dollar deals to set its search program as the automatic option for Internet searches on Apple's iPhones and other devices. The lawsuit demands that Google be prohibited from favoring its other services, such as the YouTube platform, or the newly introduced one for artificial intelligence, Gemini.

Google's chief legal officer, Kent Walker, criticized the Justice Department for pursuing "a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America's global technology." In a post, Mr. Walker warned that the "overbroad proposal" would jeopardize privacy while undermining Google's early leadership in artificial intelligence, which he describes as "perhaps the most important innovation of our time."

The authorities are asking Judge Mehta to establish measures that would allow websites to hide their content from the techniques used by Google to train its artificial intelligence program.

If passed, the measures could end a business expected to generate more than $300 billion in revenue this year.

"The game is not fair because of Google's conduct, and the company Google reflects unfairly benefits from an unfairly created advantage," the Justice Department's recommendations state. "Measures must close this gap and take away these advantages from Google".

It is possible, however, that the Justice Department will tone down efforts to break up Google, particularly if President-elect Trump replaces, as expected, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who was appointed by President Biden to lead the division. antitrust of the Department of Justice.

Although the case was first filed during the final months of former President Trump's first term, Mr. Kanter played a leading role in the lawsuit during the litigation that ended with Judge Mehta's decision. Working with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan, Mr. Kanter has taken a tough stance on big tech companies, cracking down on companies like Apple and discouraging many business deals over the past four years.

President-elect Trump recently expressed concern that the split could destroy Google, but did not elaborate on what alternative punitive measures he might have in mind.

"What can be done, without tearing the company apart, is to make sure it's fairer," President-elect Trump said last month.

In the latest filing, Assistant Attorney General Kanter and his team have one last chance to outline the measures they believe are needed to restore competition in Internet search. The request was made six weeks after the Justice Department first mentioned the idea of ??a separation as part of possible punitive measures.

But Mr. Kanter's proposal is already raising questions about whether regulatory agencies are seeking to impose controls that extend beyond the issues covered by last year's litigation, and — by extension — Judge Mehta's decision.

Banning internet search deals, which Google already pays more than $26 billion a year to maintain, was one of the key practices of concern in Judge Mehta's ruling.

It is less clear whether the judge will uphold the Justice Department's request that the Chrome web search program be divested from Google and whether the Android platform should be completely divested from the web search program.

"Maybe it's a bit over the top," Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said of Chrome's singling out. "The remedies must be commensurate with the damage, they must commensurate with the offense. This seems to go beyond that."

Google's rival company, DuckDuckGo, whose executives testified during last year's trial, says the Justice Department is simply doing what needs to be done to curb a clearly monopolistic practice.

"Fixing Google's over a decade of illegal behavior requires more than contract restrictions: it requires a range of tools to create sustainable competition," Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo's vice president of public affairs, said in a statement.

The effort to break up Google is similar to punitive measures first imposed on Microsoft a quarter-century ago, after another landmark antitrust lawsuit that ended with a federal judge ruling that Microsoft had illegally used its Windows operating system to crush the competition.

However, the appeals court overturned an order that would have split Microsoft, a precedent that many experts believe will make Judge Mehta reluctant to follow a similar course in the Google case./ VOA