U.S. Department of Justice Considers Breaking Up Google After Loss in Search Antitrust Lawsuit

Considering Court's Proposal for 'Partial Business Sale'

U.S. authorities are reportedly considering dismantling Google, the world's largest search engine company, which lost an antitrust lawsuit last August.

According to Bloomberg and other foreign media on the 8th (local time), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that it is considering proposing to the Washington D.C. federal court to require Google to divest parts of its business to mitigate the harms caused by its monopoly in the online search market.

In documents submitted to the court, the DOJ said, "We are considering behavioral and structural remedies to prevent Google from gaining advantages over competitors in search and artificial intelligence (AI) through the use of the Android operating system (OS) and the Chrome web browser."

In response, Google called the proposal "radical" and argued that it would "cause unintended significant consequences for consumers, businesses, and the competitiveness of the United States."

The lawsuit began in October 2020 with the DOJ and several states filing suit. They claimed that Google violated antitrust laws by paying billions of dollars to smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics to establish market dominance, controlling about 90% of the U.S. search engine market. In August, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of the Washington D.C. federal court ruled that "Google is a monopoly" and found that Google's payment of approximately $26 billion (about 35 trillion won) to set its search engine as the default on smartphone web browsers was illegal.

Judge Mehta ruled only on whether Google violated antitrust laws and decided to determine specific penalties by August next year. The DOJ's proposed remedies, including the possibility of breaking up the company, must be accepted by the court. The DOJ plans to submit more detailed proposals by the 20th of next month. Google can also present its own resolution plan by December 20th.

However, some believe that since Google has expressed its intention to appeal, the final decision will only be made after going to the U.S. Supreme Court.