After tech giant Google lost its antitrust lawsuit, the US Department of Justice is seeking harsh remedies and considering splitting it up.
On the evening of October 8th local time, according to foreign media reports, the US Department of Justice submitted a document to the federal court showing that as part of antitrust remedies, the US Department of Justice is considering splitting Google.
In this 32 page document titled "Plaintiff's Proposed Remedial Framework," the US Department of Justice lists a range of options that judges may consider when deciding on remedial measures. The remedial measures required to prevent and limit the maintenance of monopolies may include: contractual requirements and injunctions; non discriminatory product requirements; data and interoperability requirements; and structural requirements
Although the US Department of Justice did not directly use the term "breakup" in the document, its use of "structural requirements" is understood as a similar expression, and multiple foreign media outlets have directly pointed out the Department of Justice's tendency to split Google.
At the same time, the Department of Justice stated that it is considering taking behavioral and structural remedial measures to prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to enhance Google Search and its related products and features - including emerging search access points and features such as AI - to gain an advantage over competitors or new practitioners.
The US Department of Justice stated in the document that Google has already had a significant monopolistic impact on the market through its vast search engine market share and AI technology advantages. This monopolistic position not only limits the development space of competitors, but may also reduce consumer choices and increase product prices.
The Department of Justice stated that Judge Amit P. Mehta of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who presided over the case, has the authority to request that Google's parent company Alphabet provide access to its search results and the underlying data used in its AI products. The Ministry of Justice will continue to collaborate with market participants to collect evidence and submit a further refined final judgment proposal to the court in November 2024. Following the court's order, a revised final judgment proposal will be submitted in March 2025.
In response, Lee Anne Mulholland, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Google, stated in a public statement that the Department of Justice's initial proposal to reform the search engine market is "radical and thorough," and may have "unexpected negative consequences for American innovation and American consumers." "We will provide a detailed response to the Department of Justice's final proposal when we appear in court next year. However, we are concerned that the Department of Justice has already made demands that go far beyond the specific legal issues of this case
This case began in 2020, when the US Department of Justice, together with prosecutors from 52 states and jurisdictions, jointly sued Google, accusing it of paying billions of dollars to tech industry peers such as Apple and Samsung, smartphone manufacturers, and wireless service providers in exchange for Google Search being set as the default choice for phones and web browsers.
On August 5th local time, Judge Meta announced the verdict, finding that Google's search business violated US antitrust laws. Judge Meta stated that he will strive to make a ruling on the remedial measures in this case before August 2025. Google has announced that it will appeal the case once remedial measures are determined.
Subsequently, it was reported that the winning US Department of Justice had taken into account the rare punitive measure of splitting Google, with the most likely departments to be spun off being the Android operating system and web browser Chrome.
If the split proposal of the US Department of Justice is ultimately supported by the court, Google will face a severe situation of being forced to sell some of its businesses, and it will become a subsidiary of AT&T, a US telecommunications company; The largest US company spin off event since T was spun off in 1984.
Meanwhile, Google will also become the first company since the Microsoft antitrust case ended in 2001 to be pushed by the US government to be split and heavily fined for violating antitrust laws. In anti-monopoly cases over 20 years ago, Microsoft also faced the danger of "splitting up". The company ultimately paid a settlement fee of up to $1.8 billion, was prohibited from participating in exclusive transactions that could harm competitors, and was required to open up some of its source code.
At present, Google's search engine occupies the majority of the global market share, especially in the field of mobile devices, with a market share of nearly 95%. The US Department of Justice also mentioned in the document that by signing illegal distribution agreements with other technology companies, Google has made its search engine the default choice for smartphones and browsers, further strengthening its market monopoly position.
Legal analysts have pointed out that although Judge Mehta could theoretically order the spin off of Google, this possibility is unlikely, and the punishment is more likely to impose new restrictions on how Google conducts business, such as limiting Google's ability to become the default search engine for mobile phones by paying fees to companies such as Apple and Samsung.
It is worth noting that just the day before, Google had just experienced a "major setback" in antitrust. On October 7th local time, in another antitrust case filed by American gaming company Epic Games, a jury in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Google illegally monopolized the market through its Android app store, Google Play, and ordered Google to open its app store for the next three years. The verdict will take effect from November 1st.
The ruling means that Google will need to allow users to download other third-party app stores on Google Play and allow these third-party app stores to access the entire app catalog on Google Play, unless the app developers choose to opt out. Meanwhile, Google will not be required to mandate the use of Google Pay system for applications within the Google Play Store.
Google has planned to appeal the ruling, stating that the judge's decision "will lead to a series of unexpected consequences that harm the interests of American consumers, developers, and device manufacturers.
On the 8th, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) closed at $165.70 per share, up 0.8%, with a total market value of $2.03 trillion.