ranzware
Last year, the US Department of Justice proposed a number of remedies to address Google’s vice-like hold over search. Among the DOJ’s suggestions was that Google be forced to sell off Chrome and be banned from re-entering the browser market for five years. Unsurprisingly, Google didn’t much care for this plan, and they’re now trying their luck with the Trump administration.
Representatives from Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., met with government officials last week. They urged Trump’s DOJ to pursue less disruptive measures citing concerns of national security, according to anonymous sources who spoke to Bloomberg. Specific proposed remedies were allegedly not addressed, with the company’s representatives instead making the case for a less hack-happy approach given Google’s pivotal role within the US economy.
In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels asserted that this was all very normal, saying, “We routinely meet with regulators, including with the DOJ to discuss this case. As we’ve publicly said, we’re concerned the current proposals would harm the American economy and national security.”
During the Biden administration, the DOJ had previously claimed Google had “corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control.” A seismic ruling soon followed in August, with a federal judge finding that the company had illegally monopolized search and related advertising.
Google’s vice president, Lee-Anne Mulholland, didn’t like the ruling one bit, saying, “The government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.”
When news of the DOJ’s proposed, far-reaching remedies then surfaced in November, Google and Alphabet’s president of Global Affairs and chief legal officer Kent Walker wrote in a public blog post, “[The] DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.
“DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products—even beyond Search—that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”
For a deeper dive into the legal ins and outs of this case, take a look at our James’ feature from last year. As it currently stands, a judge still has yet to rule on exactly which remedies proposed by the DOJ will go into effect, hence Google’s continued push to hold on to its hoard.
Both Google and the DOJ are to file their final proposals to the judge on Friday, before hearings begin next month. Still, given this recent White House statement taking aim at the European Union’s taxation of US tech giants (framing this as the ‘unfair exploitation of American innovation’), perhaps Google is feeling lucky…
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Kurt Indovina
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