The US government is plotting a break-up of Google in an attempt to disrupt the US tech giant’s stranglehold on the online search market.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed it was considering a move to force Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser or Android operating system.
In a court filing on Tuesday night, US officials said they were exploring “structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play and Android to advantage Google search”.
It comes after a court ruling in August found Google operated an illegal monopoly, using its Android and Chrome products to maintain its dominance over internet search.
This included paying billions of dollars a year to companies such as Apple to ensure its technology was the default search engine on its iPhones.
However, following a four-year legal battle, the US government could now demand Google tear up these agreements.
The DoJ said that the tech giant’s vast “monopoly-funded” payments are blocking competition in the sector.
Its court filing said: “Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow.”
Google has said it intends to appeal the August judgment that declared the tech giant a monopolist, while any decision to break up the $2 trillion business could take years.
In a blog post, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee Anne-Mulholland, accused officials of pursuing “radical and sweeping demands”, claiming the US government’s proposed measures have gone “well beyond the legal scope of the court’s decision”.
Google said that forcing it to split off Android or Chrome could also raise the cost of phones and laptops and undermine the security of the products.
The legal battle, which was launched under former president Donald Trump but has continued under President Joe Biden, sets up the biggest clash between Silicon Valley and Washington since the 1990s when the government tried and failed to break up Microsoft.
The latest twist in the saga comes after a separate legal ruling on Monday demanded Google make major changes to its smartphone app store – the Play Store.
It is also fighting a parallel legal fight that threatens to break up its online advertising business.
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