The Department of Justice won a court case and now they are looking to makeGoogle sell its browser
The Department of Justice’s Second Step in the Google-Doj’s Legal Challenge: Obstructions to Google’s Role in the Online Search Market
The DOJ’s proposal will be updated in March and the government and Google will be in the DC District Court for a trial in April. It’s the second stage of the litigation, with Mehta now tasked with determining the best way to restore competition in the markets.
The government is asking a court to stop the search engine from giving money to third parties, making it the default search engine, and discouraging them from hosting search competitors. It also wants to ban Google from preferencing its search engine on any owned-and-operated platform (like YouTube or Gemini), mandate it let rivals access its search index at “marginal cost, and on an ongoing basis,” and require Google to syndicate its search results, ranking signals, and US-originated query data for 10 years. The Department of Justice wants that websites not be punished in search results if they opt out of the Artificial Intelligence overviews.
The Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market, and it left the door open to requiring the company to spin out Android, too.
If the court approves the request, this would be the first time in decades that a corporation was forced to split up.
“Google’s dominance has gone unchallenged for well over a decade,” wrote Mehta, noting that “Google also has a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution.”
In Washington, Mehta has scheduled a two-week hearing in April focusing on what changes Google must make to remedy its position as an illegal monopoly. A decision is expected sometime in 2025.
In a statement on Wednesday, Google called the Justice Department’s proposals “staggering,” saying that, if implemented, they would weaken security and privacy for users and stifle Google’s innovation.
The playing field is not fair because of the conduct of the internet giant, according to a proposed final judgment.
The Justice Departments’ proposals target the artificial intelligence technology of one of the companies. The government asks the judge to allow websites to opt out of having their data trained by the government.