DOJ Seeks to Break Google’s Monopoly by Divesting Ideas to Competition

With potential divestitures and data sharing, the DOJ will fight to knock Google's search monopoly down, whether hurting the development of AI, or shaking up the tech sector.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is gearing up to take on Google’s supremacy in online searches, suggesting that its interventions may include monetary fines and modifications such as sharing resources with its adversaries. Some analysts have expressed concerns that such alterations may affect Google’s progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and alter the technological ecosystem.

This week, the DOJ also gave indications that it could petition the court to compel Google to divest some of the core businesses such as Android software and Chrome browsers. According to the department of justice, control of such assets has contributed in sustaining an illegal search monopoly which is a critical component towards the earning straggles of Google.

Google could be ordered by DOJ to limit user data collection, share search results, allow websites control of some content input into AI training. Information presented to the public could be governed by third party body besides divestitures.

Such provisions would impact Google’s earnings negatively while allowing room for growth for competitive service providers for instance, Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo. It is reported that analysts have suggested that making such data available to competitors may encourage greater competition and increase the number of firms in the industry.

Compared to Disney/MSFT case, the recommended antitrust actions are challenged from a practicality standpoint. Immediately after the announcement, Alphabet's stock dropped on the concern that what has been expected for so long -- the risk of forced breakup -- is about to become reality with Google off the table.