- Judge Amit Mehta found in August that Google holds an illegal monopoly in its search business.
- On Wednesday, DOJ officials in the antitrust division filed their proposal for remedies in the case.
- The DOJ wants Judge Mehta to force Google to sell its Chrome browser.
Officials from the Department of Justice, in a Wednesday filing, urged District Judge Amit Mehta to force Google to sell its Chrome browser.
The recommendations are the finalized proposal by the DOJ’s antitrust division for remedies in Google’s landmark antitrust case, in which Mehta ruled that the tech giant created an illegal monopoly with its search business by paying Apple and other smartphone makers billions to be the default search engine on their devices.
Mehta will consider the DOJ’s proposal before he makes a final ruling regarding remedies in this case.
“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired. The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages,” the filing states.
Representatives for Google and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider after the filing was made public.
“The DOJ continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, the vice president of Google’s regulatory affairs, previously told BI in a statement following a Bloomberg report on Monday that included limited details of the proposal. “The government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.”
What selling Chrome would look like for Google
Because of Google’s size, the popularity of Chrome, and the profits its search wing drives for the company, it would be a historic development if they were ultimately required to divest themselves of Chrome, Eric Chaffee, a business and tech law professor at Case Western Reserve University, told BI.
Such a sale would be a multibillion-dollar proposal, and it’s not immediately clear who a potential buyer would be.
“Google could receive proceeds in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion,” Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management practice at Babson College, told BI. “But if Google is able to control the company that buys Chrome, the impact of selling the business would be minimal. What matters most to Google is all the data Google collects and uses for advertising.”
Neil Chilson, a former acting chief technologist at the FTC, told BI that asking Mehta to force Google to sell Chrome is the DOJ’s way of swinging for the fences — but he expects the final remedies to land somewhere short of complete divestment.
“It’s a pretty fantastical ask,” Chilson said.
I believe that this solution does not effectively address the issue identified by Judge Mehta, which is the exclusive contracts, making it an overly aggressive request that does not solve the root problem highlighted by the judge as causing the competitive issues. Pemerintahan Biden Berpotensi Revisi Kasus Antitrust Google
Pada kasus yang diajukan terhadap Google oleh pemerintahan Trump pertama, Presiden terpilih ini umumnya dianggap lebih ramah terhadap perusahaan besar daripada Biden, jadi DOJ-nya mungkin akan mempertimbangkan kembali permintaan penyelesaian yang diajukan dalam pengajuan hari Rabu.
Potensi Banding Google untuk Memperlambat Keputusan Akhir
Menurut Cohan, seorang profesor dari Babson College, Google juga bisa mengajukan banding terhadap putusan tersebut untuk mencoba memperlambat hasil akhir atau meminta kasus tersebut ditolak.
Tetapi Chilson, mantan teknolog FTC, setuju bahwa kemungkinan Google akan mencoba untuk menunda keputusan akhir namun menambahkan bahwa kasus antitrust memiliki momentum, sehingga ia tidak akan mengharapkan perubahan substansial bagi raksasa teknologi tersebut segera setelah Trump menjabat.
Perlawanan Google dalam Mempertahankan Chrome
“Secara keseluruhan, dalam kasus ini, akan menjadi salah satu hal di mana Google akhirnya akan bertarung — dan bertarung dengan sangat keras, bertarung dengan sangat gigih — untuk akhirnya tetap mempertahankan Chrome di dalam perusahaannya,” kata Chafee, seorang profesor hukum dari Case Western.
