The US Department of Justice could ask a federal judge to force Google to break up after a recent ruling determined that its search engine was an illegal monopoly.
Last month, a judge ruled that Google has spent billions of dollars in order to become the default world’s search engine, violating antitrust laws. A potential fix to the issue would be for Google’s parent company Alphabet to sell some of its businesses.
In a filing on Tuesday, the government outlined proposals for “behavioral and structural” remedies it may force Google to enact. In addition to the sale of certain properties, lawyers proposed an end to the exclusive agreements that Google has with Apple and Samsung – Google was found to be paying the companies in exchange for Google being the default search engine on consumer devices. Google could also we
Other fixes included forcing Google to curtail data tracking practices and for the company to halt using other websites to bolster the results delivered by its artificial intelligence.
“For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users,” lawyers wrote in the filing. “Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.”
A federal judge is expected to deliver a ruling on what remedies Google must put in place by August 2025.
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