The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering forcing Google to sell Chrome and Android.
“For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users,” court documents read. “Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.”
“Plaintiffs are evaluating remedies that would, among other things, limit or prohibit default agreements, preinstallation agreements, and other revenue-sharing arrangements related to search and search-related products, potentially with or without the use of a choice screen,” the filings adds, noting that the DOJ is also considering “behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features—including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence—over rivals or new entrants.”
Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the government is “pursuing a sweeping agenda that will impact numerous industries and products, with significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness.”
“Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers,” Mulholland added.
The move comes as the search engine was recently declared a monopoly.
Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in an August ruling that “Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete.”
“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
“Importantly, the court also finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits,” the ruling added.