(New York) Will the giant Google have to split into several entities? In any case, this is one of the avenues that the American government seems to be considering, which is urging the group to modify its model to open its search engine to competition.
Posted at 6:35 a.m.
In the thirty-page document sent to Washington federal judge Amit Mehta, the Department of Justice (DOJ) mentions, before the sentencing of the group convicted in early August for monopoly, possible “structural” changes. a term that many observers translate as a split.
The American government therefore suggests preventing the technology giant from using its Chrome browser, its Google Play Store application store and its Android mobile operating system to give an advantage to its search engine.
The same magistrate found Google guilty of anti-competitive practices in the management and promotion of its famous search engine.
The trial notably highlighted the staggering sums paid by the Alphabet subsidiary to ensure the default installation of Google Search with manufacturers of smartphones and internet browsers.
According to the StatCounter website, in September Google accounted for 90% of the global online search market and even 94% for smartphones.
Competing stores
The document released Tuesday is only a preliminary version of the recommendations that the DOJ will send to Judge Mehta in November.
But the possibility of breaking up Google or requiring sweeping changes to the way it does business marks a profound shift by U.S. government competition authorities who have largely left the tech giants alone since their failure to break up Microsoft twenty years ago.
“Splitting Chrome and Android would destroy them and many other things,” Google reacted in a press release posted on its site.
A forced separation “would change their economic model, increase the cost of devices and undermine Android and Google Play in their competition with the iPhone and the App Store”, Apple’s application store, continues Google, which faces a broader legal offensive over alleged violations of competition laws.
On Monday, a federal judge in California ordered Google to authorize the installation of application stores competing with the Google Play Store, ruling in favor of Fortnite creator Epic Games.
The publisher wants to launch its own application store in 2025, “without Google’s scare messages and the 30% deductions” that the technology giant takes from the income of application creators.
Data sharing
Among other avenues for reform, the first version of the government’s recommendations to the judge mentions the obligation that would be placed on Google to make accessible the data and programming models used to generate results via its search engine.
The DOJ also plans to ask the magistrate to prohibit Google from using or retaining data that it refuses to share with third-party companies.
As for a possible sharing of research data and results with other internet players, this “would present a risk for the protection of your data and your security”, argues the Californian company.
For Google, the US government’s recommendations “go well beyond the legal issues addressed in this case”.
Whatever the judge’s final decision, Google is expected to appeal, which could drag out the process for years and possibly go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
