In a recent interview with the Associated Press, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice is considering asking federal judges to “break up” Google in response to allegations of its illegal monopoly in the search market.
Court documents filed on the evening of October 8 detailed several potential remedies that government attorneys are weighing. These options could include restricting Google’s access to artificial intelligence for scraping data from other websites for its search results and stopping the tech giant from paying Apple and other companies billions annually to maintain its role as the default search engine on devices like iPhones.
This filing represents the first step in a lengthy legal process aimed at redefining a company that has become synonymous with online searching. Reports indicate that this is the first time the government has shared the types of remedies it is considering. The Justice Department plans to conduct further investigations in the coming weeks, with a more detailed proposal expected to be unveiled in November. Meanwhile, Google is set to present its own counter-proposals by December, with prosecutors aiming to finalize their plan by March 2025.
In response, Google released a statement through its blog, asserting that artificial intelligence is an emerging technology and a key player in fierce market competition. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, stated that “government intervention in this critical industry poses significant risks.”
