(Credit: Ascannio/Shutterstock.com)
The US is weighing how it might break up Google after it determined the tech giant has a monopoly over web search services and search text advertising. It's considering splitting the Android operating system, the Chrome web browser, or the Play Store off from Google.
"Google’s anticompetitive conduct resulted in interlocking and pernicious harms," the Justice Department's filing, published on Tuesday, reads. It adds that it's 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."
The US considers the relationship between Android devices, the Google Play Store, the Chrome browser, and Google Search to be an interconnected web of anticompetitive practices. To fix this, the US may force Google to educate the public on alternatives, force Google let websites opt out of AI training or appear in AI summaries, or share Google's search index, data, and AI models, to name a few examples.
It may also try to reduce competitors' costs or delete search agreements and revenue-sharing deals (like that which Google has with Samsung for the Play Store and with Apple for Safari search). Google's ad practices may see an overhaul or a split-off, forcing Google to share more monetization data with advertisers.
Regulating Google's AI tools may also be a part of the antitrust case resolution, because the US sees AI as likely to "become an important feature of the evolving search industry" (which it already has through Google's AI Overviews).
Unsurprisingly, Google isn't happy with these propositions. Google VP of Regulatory Affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland writes early Wednesday morning that Google sharing Search users' data with competitors could compromise user privacy and security. Mulholland sees a Chrome or Android split from Google as something that would fundamentally "break" them, and argues that regulating or restricting Google's AI tools "risks holding back American innovation at a critical moment."
Mulholland concludes: "We believe that today’s blueprint goes well beyond the legal scope of the Court’s decision about Search distribution contracts. Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers. We look forward to making our arguments in court."
Earlier this week, a US judge ruled that Google must allow its Play Store to permit third-party app stores on Android devices. This is a big win for Fortnite publisher Epic Games, which has been battling Google and Apple over their respective app store restrictions for years.