America considering dismantling Google over illegal online search monopoly: Reports

Days after an Indian American judge came down hard on web giant Google over its malpractice of monopolising search on the Internet, the US is considering breaking up the California-based company, reports said.

“The move would be Washington’s first push to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft Corp. two decades ago,” Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

“Less severe options include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products, said the people,” the report added.

The New York Times reported that officials from the US’ Justice Department (DOJ) are “considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against the search giant”.

“They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system,” it reported.

Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia is overseeing the case. Mehta has asked the DOJ and Google to come up with a process for determining a fix by September 4. The judge has scheduled a hearing two days later, on September 6, 2024, to discuss next steps, reports said.

Google could have to share its data with rivals, or, and, abandon deals that made its search engine the default option on various devices. Reports said that the US is looking to curb Google’s power.

In the last four years, companies like Apple, Meta and Amazon have been sued by US Federal antitrust regulators for maintaining monopolies illegally.