US Department of Justice gunning for Google over monopoly on online searches
Google could be the target of federal prosecutors in the US over antitrust violation allegations.
Per the AFR, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is “considering behavioural and structural remedies” regarding Google and its parent company, Alphabet, for dominating online searches.
This could see Google’s online search supremacy pulled back and prevented from using engines like Chrome Browser and the Play app store.
“For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users,” the DoJ said in a statement this week.
“Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.”
The DoJ has called for four areas for a district judge consider – search distribution and revenue sharing; generation and display of search results; advertising scale and monetisation; and gathering and use of data.
In its own statement, Google said it is “concerned the DoJ is already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case”.
“This case is about a set of search distribution contracts. Rather than focus on that, the government seems to be pursuing a sweeping agenda that will impact numerous industries and products, with significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness,” the statement reads.
“The DoJ’s outline also comes at a time when competition in how people find information is blooming, with all sorts of new entrants emerging and new technologies like AI transforming the industry.”
The DoJ and Google are expected to file proposed final judgements and witness lists on November 20 and December 20, respectively, while remedy request hearings are scheduled for April next year.
It’s reported that a decision will be delivered by August 2025.
The news comes just weeks after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the digital advertising technology market.
The CMA is concerned that the vast majority of publishers and advertisers rely on Google’s ad tech to bid for and sell advertising space, but Google’s practices hinder competitors from offering more competitive services.
It’s yet to be explained how, or if, these proceedings in the US and UK could affect local operations.
Mumbrella has contacted Google for comment.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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