US Government propose to break-up Google
Following a court ruling against Google’s illegal monopoly power in the online search market, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed large-scale remedies that go far beyond the Silicon Valley giant’s online search business. The proposals include possible divestment of Google’s Chrome and Android businesses. The DOJ, in its proposal, stressed that Google’s hold over the online search market had to be loosened so there can be more competition. The federal government unit has argued for a mandatory sale of the Chrome browser, possible divestment of the Android mobile operating system, a five-year-long ban on entering the browser market, license the search index data it collects from people’s queries to its rivals, provide more transparency into how it sets the prices that advertisers pay to be listed near the top of some targeted search results and a restriction on paying third parties like Apple to make Google the default search engine on their products.
In response this proposal, Google has strongly criticized the proposal and claims the proposal demands drastic changes that could disrupt its services, harm consumers, and weaken the US's global technology leadership. The DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone OEMs, and wireless carriers. Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.
