The DOJ Proposes 'Structural' Changes to Undo Google's Monopoly

The Department of Justice submitted its proposed remedies to the August federal court ruling that Google illegally monopolizes search, arguing that Google should be prohibited from using its own products like Chrome, Android and the Play App store to advantage its search-related business. The proposed remedies might include a break up of the company, though the DOJ didn't use language as strong as divest. “Plaintiffs are considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features—including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence—over rivals or new entrants,” the filing read. The DOJ also suggested that Google be barred from “default agreements, preinstallation agreements, and other revenue-sharing arrangements related to search and search-related products, potentially with or without the use of a choice screen.” This is a reference to contracts with firms like Apple and browsers like Firefox to make Google the default search engine, which was a key part of Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling. However, the Oct. 8 filing only proposes remedies. The DOJ has until November 20 to file its final recommendations for how the court should take action against Google. Google will file its own proposed remedies on December 20. Judge Mehta, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, will hear a trial on remedies in April 2025 and is expected to make a final ruling later in the year. Google then has an opportunity to appeal, which it says it will. Judge Mehta ruled in August that Google has monopoly power in the general search services market and in search text advertising. Mehta also ruled that Google’s exclusive distribution agreements are anti-competitive. Cracking open the walled garden The DOJ proposed remedies that will undermine its walled garden in search. Among these are stipulations that force Google to make “the indexes, data, feeds, and models used for Google search, including those used in AI-assisted search features” available to rivals. The stipulation also requires Google to share the “Google search results, features, and ads, including the underlying ranking signals, especially on mobile.” Google has argued that sharing its data would violate user privacy. The DOJ said that if sharing data violates user privacy, a potential remedy could be that Google only collects data that it's comfortable sharing. “Plaintiffs are considering remedies that would prohibit Google from using or retaining data that cannot be effectively shared with others on the basis of privacy concerns,” the filing read. The DOJ also suggested Google license or syndicate its ad feed independent of its search results, in response to Mehta’s charge that Google has a monopoly in search text advertising. Stopping Google from monopolizing artificial intelligence The DOJ emphasized that while the case is focused on search, remedies must look to emerging market trends to prevent Google from enacting similar harms in the future, which apply to artificial intelligence. The DOJ proposed forcing Google to let publishers block their web crawler for Google’s generative artificial intelligence and retrieval-augmented generation, which combines the tech behind search with large language models. There is currently no way for a publisher to only give the crawler permission to appear in search, but not to scrape the site for artificial intelligence use cases, an active gripe of publishers who see AI as an existential threat to their businesses. The DOJ also suggested that it would propose remedies that would prevent Google from using its AI tech like Performance Max to protect its monopoly. Performance Max, which uses Google’s algorithms to target across Google's vast swath of ad placements including search, YouTube and display, has been controversial for undermining buyer control and transparency. “These remedies may address Google’s use of scale, including new advertising technologies such as artificial intelligence (e.g., Performance Max), in enhancing and protecting its general search text ad monopoly,” the filing read.

Technology

The DOJ Says Google May Need 'Structural' Changes to Undo Its Search Monopoly

In a filing, the DOJ called for Google to potentially break up its business

Catherine Perloff

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Catherine Perloff