On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice urged a federal judge to force Google to sell its Chrome web browser in order to weaken its monopoly in the search engine market, marking a significant milestone in the latest phase of an antitrust case.
Last year, Washington D.C. Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google, under the multinational technology conglomerate Alphabet Inc, unlawfully maintained a monopoly in the web search sector. He reserved three weeks to hear arguments and testimony from all parties to determine what remedies should be taken to restore competition.
Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist told Judge Mehta on Monday, “We are at a turning point.” He added, “This court now has an opportunity to correct the monopoly that currently controls a generation of the internet and restore competition for decades to come.”
This case represents the efforts made by U.S. antitrust enforcers over the years to rein in Silicon Valley tech giants, and is considered a significant milestone. It will impose new restrictions on Google to facilitate competition for other search engine companies.
According to court documents, the Justice Department believes that Google should face serious consequences for its monopoly behavior. The court is seeking to compel Google to sell its Chrome browser, terminate agreements that make its search engine the default option on smartphones and other devices, and require it to provide data access to competitors.
Google has consistently claimed that its success stems from fair competition. The company told Mehta that the broad remedies proposed by the Justice Department would hinder innovation and harm consumer interests.
In October 2020, the Justice Department filed this case, during the final months of President Trump’s first term. At that time, the case was seen as the most significant antitrust case in the tech industry since the Justice Department waged a long antitrust battle against Microsoft in the 1990s.
More than 30 state attorneys general from both parties joined the case and made similar claims. Dahlquist stated that both parties oppose Google’s conduct. The Justice Department first proposed remedies in November before Trump took office, essentially sticking to its initial plan.
The Justice Department accuses Google of controlling about 90% of the global search market, using illegal agreements to exclude competitors, and in the process, harming consumers and advertisers. Last year, a trial focusing on liability revealed that Google pays Apple over $20 billion annually to make its search engine the default option in Apple’s Safari browser.
Google has expressed willingness to “relax” agreements with Apple and other companies to give other search engines better placement on mobile devices. However, it opposes most of the government’s proposals, arguing that they would create barriers to future innovation.
Google lawyer John Schmidtlein stated in his opening statement on Monday that competition Google faces is fiercer than ever, with the emergence of new artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI.
He referred to the government’s proposed remedies as a “wishlist” for Google’s competitors, stating, “This series of excessive interventionist remedies will harm competition, not promote it.”