US considering breakup of Google after court verdict on its monopoly: reports

A bid to break up Alphabet Inc.’s Google is being considered by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after a landmark court ruling found that the company has monopolised the online search market, US media cited sources familiar with the deliberations as saying.

“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,” said Bloomberg on Tuesday.

“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, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations,” the report said, according to Xinhua news agency.

“Justice Department officialsare considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against the search giant,” said The New York Times. “They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system.”

Otherscenarios under consideration include forcing Google to make its data available to rivals, or mandating that it abandon deals that made its search engine the default option on devices like the iPhone. The government is meeting with other companies and experts to discuss their proposals for limiting Google’s power, according to the report.

US Federal antitrust regulators have sued Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple in the past four years, claiming the companies illegally maintained monopolies. Microsoft had settled with the DOJ in 2004 on claims it forced its Internet Explorer Web browser on Windows users.

(With inputs from IANS)