DOJ Proposes Remedies in Google Antitrust Case

• Prosecutors proposed remedies after a federal judge ruled Google violated antitrust.
• Judge Amit Mehta previously ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by providing default search offers.
• Recommended remedies included limiting contracts that make Google the default search engine.

Months after a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust law with its search engine, prosecutors recommended remedies that a judge could order the tech giant to implement.

If passed, the “behavioral and structural remedies” prosecutors are seeking could force a major reorganization or even breakup of some of Google’s core businesses, including its search engine, which is so popular it has become a verb.

A breakup — should it survive inevitable legal battles — would also mark a major escalation in the agency’s years-long antitrust battles against Big Tech, which have ensnared nearly every major tech company.

One proposal — to limit or ban contracts that make Google the default search engine — could hurt not only Google itself, but also partners like Apple, which earn billions from Google.

Prosecutors said they were considering a requirement that Google share the data that powers much of its business — the inputs and patterns for Google search and search results — through an application programming interface. It’s unclear how such an API would work, including whether Google could charge for it or open it up to the public, a possible fix that investors have proposed in recent months.

Another proposal would prevent the company from using its other products, such as Chrome and Android, to promote Google search over competitors.

Prosecutors said they could ask Google to allow websites to opt out of using their content to train or appear in Google AI results, as well as impose restrictions on search ads. Companies and consumers are increasingly concerned about how their data is used to train AI models.

None of these proposals are definitive. Prosecutors will give the court a proposed final ruling next month and a review of that ruling in March.

District Judge Amit Mehta will decide whether to enforce the changes proposed by prosecutors — any orders issued would be aimed at restoring competition in the online search market. Google previously said the company plans to appeal the ruling, which could delay the judge from imposing any remedies brought by the prosecution.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed remedies.

Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, senior analyst at Emarketer, previously said Mehta’s ruling against Google “could be a huge deal — depending on the remedy.”

In August, Mehta ruled that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, violated antitrust laws through agreements that made Google the default search engine on other platforms.

“Google is a monopolist and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his nearly 300-page ruling.

The ruling — and prosecutors’ appeals — should serve as a cautionary tale for Big Tech. The antitrust case against Google triggered the biggest antitrust ruling since Microsoft faced the potential for a breakup in the 1990s. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, previously told BI that Google’s failed entanglement with the Justice Department only fuel DOJ’s ‘Big Tech battle’.

Shubhangi Goel contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.