The wait to see how Google would be punished for its illegal monology in search and search advertising is ending with the company possibly forced to spin out Chrome and Android as penance.
The District Court of DC filed its first draft of Department of Justice remedy proposals to address Jude Amit Mehta’s ruling that Google participated in illegal monopolistic behavior regarding its products in search and search advertising earlier this week. Included in the DOJ’s list of remedies is the idea that Google should sell off its flagship Chrome browser. The DOJ is also leaving the door open for the company to divest from its Android mobile operating platform as a bargaining chip to keep Google from trying to find loopholes in applying the other remedies suggested or if selling Chrome doesn’t adequately address the monopoly situation.
Based on what the DOJ has included as ways to amend for Google’s illegal behavior, it may make more financial sense for the company to spin Chrome or Android off as separate businesses, than to comply with full lot of proposals.
For instance, the DOJ wants the court to enforce a prohibition on those pesky third-party exclusivity agreements it once held for Search. Other remedies proposed by the DOJ include limiting the degree to which Google can offer preferential treatment of its search engine on platforms it owns or operates such as YouTube, Gemini, or Google Shopping, forcing Google to share access to its indexed search data for a nominal cost in an ‘ongoing basis’, and a 10-year period in which the company has to syndicate its results, US-based search data, and ranking signals.
Perhaps the most consequential request from the DOJ regarding remedies for Google has to do with the company’s future in AI, where there is a proposal to allow websites an opt-out selection from AI overviews without a retaliatory penalization in regular search results or UI.
Again, these are the DOJ’s moonshot remedies offered in their first draft with the department issuing a revised list of suggestion sometime in March of 2025 leading up to an official remedies trial between itself and Google in the district courts a month later. During this next phase of negotiating Judge Mehta will iron out some of the request and figure out the best way for Google to proceed in the markets following a monopoly decision.
As expected, Google’s parent company Alphabet had its chief legal officer Kent Walker issue a statement in response to the initial DOJ suggestions that claim the departments suggestions are ‘wildly overboard’ and nothing short of a “radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”
As part of its lawsuit over how we distribute Search, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) tonight filed a staggering proposal that seeks dramatic changes to Google services.
Kent Walker
DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone OEMs, and wireless carriers.
Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership. DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.
President, Global Affairs & Chief Legal Officer, Google & Alphabet
Kent’s rhetoric mirrors that of the incoming administration’s position on America’s place among global competition and may be a ploy to favor curry with a DOJ run by a different collection of people than the ones offering remedies today. However, it should be noted that it was the first Trump admin that originally opened the case into Google.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if any, remedies are sought after the DOJ switches hands.
