US Department of Justice considers breaking up Google’s business

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday (local time) that the U.S. Department of Justice is considering forcing Google, the world’s largest search company, to break up its business. This is a follow-up to the ruling by Washington Federal Court Judge Amit Mehta last Tuesday that “Google is a monopoly.” If the Ministry of Justice forces Google to break up its business according to its internal plan, it will be Washington’s first attempt to split a large technology company in 42 years since the AT&T breakup in 1982. This is expected to have a significant impact not only in the United States but also in the global information technology (IT) industry.

Bloomberg cited anonymous sources quoting, "various scenarios are being discussed (inside the Ministry of Justice) to resolve Google’s dominance in the online search field, including corporate break-up.” If the Ministry of Justice decides to push forward to dismantle the tech company, the first option is likely to force the selling of its mobile operating system (OS) 'Android,' its web browser 'Chrome,' and the online text advertising platform 'AdWords,' commonly referred to as 'Google Ad.'

According to Bloomberg, less severe options include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products. The New York Times reported that the government will also likely ban Google’s exclusive contract with Apple and other device companies from installing Google as the default search engine on smart device browsers.


Woo-Sun Lim imsun@donga.com