A US court made a landmark decision that Google monopolized the online search market, and therefore the Justice Department, among other options, is considering the possibility of demanding a division of the company, Bloomberg reports, citing its own sources.
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Washington may demand this drastic measure for the first time since an unsuccessful attempt to break up Microsoft two decades ago. Less severe options would force Google to share more data with competitors and prevent the company from gaining an unfair advantage in artificial intelligence products. The government will likely seek a ban on the exclusivity contracts that formed the basis of the lawsuit against Google. If the Ministry of Justice does decide to demand the division of the company, the most likely candidates for forced sale are the Android OS and the Chrome browser. The option of forced sale of Google Ads, a text advertising platform, is also allowed.
Judge Amit Mehta ruled on August 5 that Google was illegally monopolizing the online search and search text advertising markets. The company said it would appeal, but the judge ordered the parties to prepare for the second phase of the case, in which the government will begin putting forward proposals to restore competition in the market, including a likely proposal for a breakup. The government’s plan will have to get Justice Mehta’s approval. If a decision is made to force a split, it would be the largest measure since the breakup of AT&T in the eighties.
Representatives of the Ministry of Justice held consultations with companies affected by Google’s actions, and in discussions within the department they expressed concern that the company’s dominance in search gives it an advantage in the development of artificial intelligence technologies. As a remedy, the government could try to stop Google from forcing certain AI products to use website content to appear in search results.
Another option is to abandon the Android OS, which is used on 2.5 billion devices worldwide. Google, in particular, requires gadget makers to sign agreements and agree to pre-install and provide access to the company’s applications, including Gmail and the Google Play Store. The Google search application and the Chrome browser are also required to be pre-installed – they must be installed in such a way that they cannot be removed, which effectively eliminates competition for other search engines.
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Last December, a California jury ruled that Google monopolized the distribution of Android mobile applications. The judge in the case has not yet ruled on what action will now be taken, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is responsible for enforcing antitrust laws in the United States, has said that Google should not be allowed to “reap the benefits of illegal monopolization.” The company paid partners $26 billion to install its service as the default search engine on devices and web browsers—$20 billion of which went to Apple.
Judge Mehta also ruled that Google monopolized the advertisements that appear at the top of the search engine results page. It is sold through the Google Ads platform (until 2018 AdWords) and allows you to customize impressions for queries that match the advertiser’s business. Search advertising accounts for about two-thirds of the company’s total revenue (more than $100 billion in 2020). If the Justice Department does not order the company to sell Google Ads, it may require compatibility so that the service works smoothly with other search engines.
Another option is to sell or license data to competitors, such as DuckDuckGo or Microsoft Bing. The search engine receives 16 times more data than its closest competitor, the judge found, which prevents competitors from working more efficiently and improving search results. New digital gatekeeper regulations in Europe require Google to share some of its data with third-party search engines. The company said full-scale data sharing threatens user privacy, so information will only be shared for search queries that meet certain thresholds.
For years, site administrators have provided web crawlers with access to content to help them appear in search results, but the company has recently started using them to train its AI as well. After complaints from companies, Google last fall released a tool that allows sites to block access to AI learning systems, but in May it turned out that this ban does not apply to everything: AI-generated summaries appeared in search, which save people from having to click on links. Site administrators do not have the ability to opt out of having their properties appear in AI summaries, since in Google’s view it is a search “feature” and not a separate product. Therefore, you can block access to materials only for the entire search engine. These summaries now appear only for some queries – the company had to limit the rollout of the feature after recommendations for people to eat stones or put glue on pizza appeared in the search results.