Justice Department’s Proposed Remedies for Breaking Google’s Monopoly Over Online Search Meet the Moment

WASHINGTON - Open Markets senior reporter and researcher Karina Montoya shared the following statement in response to proposed remedies the Department of Justice has put forward to address Google’s monopoly over online search. 

“Antitrust enforcers have a duty to stop existing monopolistic behavior as well as to prevent future abuse where possible. That is exactly what the Department of Justice has proposed in US v. Google: a set of structural and behavioral remedies to not only stop Google's monopolistic behavior in search to date, but also to prevent Google from monopolizing new AI systems that are expected to power its search products in the future.” 

"In addition to stopping Google from illegally leveraging deals with Chrome, Android, or the Play Store, another important DOJ proposal would require Google to make its Search Index and associated data accessible to the rest of the market in non-discriminatory terms. The DOJ already foresees, for example, that Google may want to conflate legitimate privacy concerns with excuses to maintain its monopoly power. In that scenario, the DOJ proposes, Google should not be able to use or retain any data that it cannot share with others on the basis of privacy concerns. This measure alone can break Google's dominance over data.” 

"Although many details are yet to be hashed out, and we will have to wait for the discovery process and remedies trial to take place, the DOJ has taken a first and encouraging step toward reining in the top monopolist of our time." 

Montoya covered both the Google search and Google ad tech trials extensively. You can find her reporting here and here. 

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