Google is in more danger than ever of being broken up
After half a decade fighting to keep its empire together, Google’s defenses are wearing thin.
The company is facing a two-front war that could fundamentally reshape its business, and, the US Department of Justice argues, open new opportunities for its competitors. Last year a federal judge deemed Google an unlawful monopolist in the online search market, and this past week, a different judge declared it had monopolized the ad tech market, too. On Monday, it will face a new stage in that first battle: a three-week trial in Washington, DC to determine the appropriate remedies to restore competition to online search.
Google has vowed to appeal both rulings, but it can’t do so until after it’s gone through remedies trials for each case, letting the DOJ argue for its breakup and other restraints. In court starting Monday, the government will make the case for forcing Google to sell its Chrome web browser, share search data with competitors, keep the government abreast of new AI investments, and end exclusionary deals with browser and phone makers.
In this and the coming ad-tech remedies trial, the judges may find that less extreme measures can address the harms they believe Goo …