The DOJ wants to break up Google, suggests splitting Chrome and Android

Key Takeaways

• DOJ proposes breaking up Google, limiting default search engine contracts and sharing search data for equal competition.
• It suggests splitting off Chrome and Android.
• Google has criticized the DOJ's changes, citing potential negative impact on consumers, businesses, and security.

In August of this year, Federal court judge Amit P. Mehta ruled that Google was an illegal monopolist because of its anticompetitive practices to dominate the search engine market. At that time, Judge Mehta did not offer a solution to end Google’s monopoly. Instead, both Google and the DOJ were tasked with proposing possible solutions. The US DOJ has now shared its proposed solutions, which include breaking up Google and splitting off Chrome and Android.

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In its submission, the DOJ proposes "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."

It has also suggested limiting Google's default search engine, preinstallation, and revenue-sharing agreements, as they block access to major distribution sources for other smaller players. Court documents have already revealed that Google paid Apple a whopping $20 billion in 2022 to be Safari's default search engine.

Besides this, the DOJ wants Google to make its search data, feeds, and models available to its competitors via APIs to ensure a level playing field. Additionally, it wants to limit how Google uses AI in search results by scraping content from third parties. The DOJ proposes that websites should have an option to opt out of Google Search's AI training tools and other AI-powered features.

The DOJ has suggested more sweeping changes for Google's advertising business. You can read its full proposal here.

Google hits back at the DOJ

Google has published a blog post responding to the radical changes suggested by the DOJ and highlighting how they will harm consumers, businesses, and developers.

In the post, Lee-Anne Mulholland, VP of Regulatory Affairs at Google, states that splitting off Chrome or Android would break them and negatively impact the devices and businesses that rely on them. It would also make the two platforms insecure, as features like Play Protect and Chome's Safe Browsing rely on several Google services for threat detection.

Mulholland also points out that forcing Google to share search queries and data with its competitors could pose a serious privacy and security risk for users. The company currently protects this data, but if third-party providers gain access to it, there's no guarantee they won't use it for user profiling.

As for Google's default search contracts with companies like Samsung and Apple, Mulholland says unnecessary restrictions on them would "create friction for people who just want to easily search for information." This would also negatively affect the revenue of smartphone vendors, forcing them to raise their phone prices.

However, don't expect anything to happen based on the DOJ's suggestions anytime soon. Google has confirmed it will provide a detailed response to the DOJ's proposal in court next year. So, this legal battle will likely drag on for a few years.