Alphabet Inc’s Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data and search results with rivals, and take other measures — including possibly selling Android — to end its monopoly on online search, prosecutors argued in a US court on Wednesday.
Such changes could result in Google being regulated for as many as 10 years via a committee appointed by the Washington federal court that ruled it held an illegal monopoly in search and related advertising in the US.
The measures presented by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) are part of a landmark case which has the potential to reshape how users find information. In the US, Google processes 90 percent of searches.
Photo: Josh Edelson / AFP
“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,” the DOJ and state antitrust enforcers said in a court filing on Wednesday.
Their proposals include ending exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple Inc and other device vendors to make its search engine the default on their tablets and smartphones.
The filing expands on an earlier outline on how the government wants to end Google’s monopoly in the US. Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake US competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
US District Judge Amit Mehta has scheduled a trial on the proposals for April, though US president-elect Donald Trump and the DOJ’s next antitrust head could step in and change course in the case.
The proposals are wide-ranging, including barring Google from re-entering the browser market for five years and insisting Google sell its Android mobile operating system if other remedies fail to restore competition. The DOJ has also requested a prohibition on Google buying or investing in search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology.
A five-person technical committee appointed by the judge would enforce compliance under prosecutors’ proposals. The committee, which Google would pay for, would have the power to demand documents, interview employees and delve into software code, the filing showed.
The measures together are meant to break “a perpetual feedback loop that further entrenches Google” through additional users, data and advertising dollars, prosecutors said.
Google would have a chance to present its own proposals next month.
Prosecutors crafted the proposals after speaking with companies that compete with Google, including search engine DuckDuckGo.
“We think this is a really big deal and will lower the barriers to competition,” DuckDuckGo’s head of public affairs Kamyl Bazbaz said.
DuckDuckGo has accused Google of trying to dodge European Union rules requiring data sharing. Google said it would not compromise user trust by giving competitors sensitive data.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS