US DOJ proposes Google break-up in landmark search monopoly case

Investing.com -- The US Department of Justice is mulling possible sanctions against Alphabet-owned Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), including a break-up of the search giant, following a landmark antitrust case that found the group guilty of abusing its dominant market position.

The DOJ is "considering behavioral and structural remedies" that would prevent Google from using products like its web browser, app store or operating system to advantage its search business over its competitors, according to a federal court filing on Tuesday. Officials also suggested that Amit Mehta, the US judge presiding over the case, could force Google into revealing the underlying data used to build its search engine and artificial intelligence products.

"For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users," the DOJ added.

Google responded in a blog post, warning that the proposal could have damaging effects on both "American innovation and America's consumers."

The DOJ's filing comes after Mehta declared in August that the tech giant was a "monopolist," arguing that it paid companies like phone manufacturers and web browser operators billions of dollars to make Google their default search option.

Mehta has scheduled hearings for the remedy requests for April of next year and is aiming to hand down a decision by August 2025. the Financial Times has reported. Google, meanwhile, has promised to take its appeal of the decision as high as the US Supreme Court, the paper said.

A slew of Google’s smaller rivals, including Yelp (NYSE:YELP), DuckDuckGo and adMarketplace had called for a sale of some of Google’s units. The firm controls roughly 90% of all U.S. internet searches.

Shares in Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) edged lower in premarket US trading on Wednesday. They have surged by just under 19% so far this year, giving Alphabet a market value of roughly $2.03 trillion and making it the world's fourth-biggest listed company.