<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-10-09/U-S-considers-breakup-of-Google-in-landmark-search-case-1xz4f40xZjW/img/5354dc54aa064bfd8fb4ed8ab999bcc4/5354dc54aa064bfd8fb4ed8ab999bcc4.jpeg' alt='The Google logo outside its offices in New York in the United States. /CFP'
The U.S. said on Tuesday that it may ask a judge to force Alphabet’s Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, which it says are used to maintain an illegal monopoly in online search.
In a landmark case, a judge found in August that Google, which processes 90 percent of U.S. internet searches, had built an illegal monopoly. The Justice Department’s proposed remedies have the potential to reshape how Americans find information on the internet while shrinking Google’s revenues and giving its competitors more room to grow.
“Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow,” the Justice Department said.
The proposed fixes will also aim to keep Google’s past dominance from extending to the burgeoning business of artificial intelligence, prosecutors said.
The Justice Department might also ask the court to end Google’s payments to have its search engine preinstalled or set as the default on new devices.
Google made annual payments of $26.3 billion in 2021 to companies, including Apple and other device manufacturers, to ensure that its search engine remained the default on smartphones and browsers, keeping its market share strong.
Google, which plans to appeal, said in a corporate blog post that the proposals were “radical” and “go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case.”
