The U.S. Department of Justice is even considering splitting companies to resolve Google’s monopoly on the search market, which was ruled by a federal court in Washington in August this year to “violate anti-monopoly law.” According to Bloomberg News on the 8th, the Ministry of Justice submitted a document containing such information to the court. This means that the Justice Department is considering having Google’s major business units, including Chrome browsers, Play app stores, and Android operating systems, sold.
In a 32-page document, the Ministry of Justice said, “There is little or no incentive for competitors to compete for users (with Google’s monopoly on search),” adding that structural remedies are needed to solve this problem. Industry experts understand that this “structural remedy” is a legal term for the division of companies through the sale of business units. Bloomberg also quoted an internal Google source as saying, “If the Justice Department dismantles Google, there is a high possibility that Android operating system and Chrome browser will be sold.”
The Justice Ministry said it is also considering ordering Google to fully open access to basic data used to build artificial intelligence models and search results. “To fully address the damage caused by Google’s monopoly, we need to prevent Google’s existing control from expanding to AI businesses and other areas,” the Justice Ministry said. It also proposed to ban Google from paying large amounts of money to companies in order for Google to be adopted as a basic search engine in electronic devices such as Apple and Samsung.
However, this proposal is subject to further change as an initial review. The Justice Ministry must present a document containing the final solution to Google to the court by August 20.
Google protested the Justice Department’s move, calling it “acute and far beyond the specific legal issues of the case.” Regarding the possibility of regulating the AI business, it said, “It could have negative consequences for innovation and consumers in the United States.”
However, Bloomberg News and others predicted that Google’s division is unlikely at this point because it will file a court lawsuit for years to come. Microsoft, which was also on the verge of division due to anti-trust lawsuits more than 20 years ago, also avoided division through an appeals court ruling.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
