Should we dismantle Google? And, if so, how? The American government responded vigorously to this question on Wednesday, November 20. The Justice Department notably recommends that the company be forced to sell its Google Chrome browser. In its 23 pages of requisition addressed to the Court of the District of Columbia also appear other proposals aimed at constraining Google, accused of having illegally maintained its domination in online search. The ministry does not rule out a separation from Android, Google’s mobile environment, the leader on smartphones.
If confirmed by the courts, such measures would be an earthquake in the history of the giant with 307 billion dollars (290.6 billion euros) in turnover and 73 billion dollars in net profits in 2023 Beyond that, they would mark the hardest blow to a digital giant since the antitrust trial which, in the early 2000s, forced Microsoft to no longer favor its Explorer browser in its Windows environment.
The sale of Chrome, which accounts for 61% of the browser market in the United States, “will permanently end Google’s control of a crucial online search access point and allow competing engines to be present in a browser used by so many as their gateway to the Internet”, justifies the Department of Justice. According to the latter, if Google has more than 90% market share in online search, it is because “ill-gotten advantages”such as having installed its default engine on your Chrome browser. And from there derives its power in online advertising, its main source of income.
Prohibition on favoring YouTube or Gemini
On Android, the ministry offers two “options”. The “more direct” is to force Google to part with it, but to avoid « objections significatives » that the company would not fail to raise, the alternative is to prohibit it from promoting its services there, in particular its search engine, by installing it as the only default engine.
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In addition to these avenues for dismantling parts of the Google empire, the government recommends prohibiting it from entering into exclusive paid contracts to install its default engine on other platforms, such as Apple’s iPhones, against more than 20 billion dollars per year. According to the document, Google would also be prohibited from promoting its services such as the YouTube video platform, or its artificial intelligence assistant Gemini, on its engine. He should also sell, at a “marginal cost”access to its search engine’s website index, as well as its results and search data. The company would also be required to allow site publishers to refuse to see their content used to train AI.
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