Sergey Brin Google co-founder (Wikipedia)
Google is in big trouble with the US Justice Department. After a landmark ruling in federal court found Google to be a monopoly, American authorities are considering a move to force what some see as the world’s most powerful corporation in the world today to be broken up into separate entities, reported Bloomberg. If so, this would be the biggest such action taken since a court ordered the break up of AT&T in the 1980s, which for decades held a monopoly on all telephone services in the United States.
Short of a full break up, the Justice Department is considering several options to address Google’s market dominance, including mandatory data sharing with competitors and implementing safeguards to prevent unfair AI advantages, according to sources familiar with the matter. One of the most frequently discussed remedies is divesting the Android operating system, reported Bloomberg.
The news comes just one week after a US Federal court ruled that Google is a monopoly. Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling a 277-page long decision which stated that Google violated ant-trust laws in how it worked to keep down the competition in the search engine market.
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Judge Mehta wrote, “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”
Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a professor at Vanderbilt University’s law school told the New York Times that this was “the most important antitrust case of the century” and that the ruling was “a huge turning point.”
The historic ruling came in a case where Google was found to have paid major companies like Apple and Samsung to have the Google search engine placed automatically in their products, thereby harming competitors like DuckDuckGo and Brave.
Antitrust law is a body of law that seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. The core principle is to prevent monopolies and cartels from forming, ensuring a level playing field for businesses and protecting consumers from unfair practices.
Antitrust law plays a crucial role in shaping market dynamics and protecting consumer interests. By preventing anti-competitive behavior, it fosters innovation, efficiency, and lower prices for consumers. However, striking the right balance between promoting competition and allowing businesses to grow and innovate can be a complex challenge for policymakers and regulators.
So, Google could be seeing the end of its very existence as a behemoth of a corporation. However, we are a long way from seeing any Google break up from actually happening. First, Google can be expected to appeal the anti-trust case. Also, at this time it is not clear if the American government will move forward with any actions against the company. And if the Republicans take back the White House in November a Donald Trump appointed Attorney General may night be so interested in going after major corporations.
