Breaking up big tech: US wants to separate Android, Play, and Chrome from Google

Google was recently adjudged a “monopolist” by a US District Court for violating US antitrust laws in its attempts to stay as the default search engine on devices and web browsers. Consequent to this decision, the US Department of Justice is chalking up plans to correct the anticompetitive behavior, and their proposed solutions include breaking Android, Chrome, and Google Play away from Google.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has submitted a new “Proposed Remedy Framework” to correct Google’s violation of antitrust antitrust laws in the country (h/t Mishaal Rahman). This framework seeks to remedy the harm caused by Google’s search distribution and revenue sharing, generation and display for search results, advertising scale and monetization, and accumulation and use of data.

The most drastic of the proposed solutions includes preventing Google from using its products, such as Chrome, Play, and Android, to advantage Google Search and related products. Other solutions include allowing websites to opt-out of training or appearing in Google-owned AI products, such as in AI Overviews in Google Search.

Google responded to this by asserting that “DOJ’s radical and sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.” While the company intends to respond in detail to DoJ’s final proposals, it says that the DoJ is “already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case.”

Google says that it has invested billions of dollars in Chrome and Android. Since these two products help people access the web and use Google’s products, it offers them and their underlying code for free, and few companies would have the ability or incentive to keep them open source or keep investing. Google warns that breaking off Chrome and Android would change their business models, raise the cost of devices, and undermine Android and Google Play as competitors to Apple’s iPhone and App Store.

Below is a summary of the various solutions proposed by the DoJ against Google’s anticompetitive behavior.

Remedying Google’s search distribution and revenue sharing

The DoJ says that the starting point for addressing Google’s unlawful conduct is undoing its effects on search distribution. For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little to no incentive to compete for users. Similarly, rivals cannot compete for these distribution channels because Google’s monopoly-funded revenue share payments disincentivize its partners from diverting queries to Google’s rivals. This is likely in reference to the billions of dollars that Google pays to Apple to be the default search option on the iPhone.

For this, the DoJ is considering several remedies. One is evaluating remedies that would limit or prohibit default agreements, preinstallation agreements, and other revenue-sharing arrangements related to Search.

The second set of remedies includes “behavioral and structural remedies” that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google Search and Google Search-related products and features over rivals or new entrants.

Remedying Google’s accumulation and use of data

The DoJ says that Google’s unlawful behavior has enabled it to accumulate and use data at the expense of its rivals in the search engine space.

For this, the DoJ is considering a remedy that forces Google to provide Google Search indexes, data, feeds, and models through an API for others to use. It would also open up Google Search results, features, ads, and even the underlying ranking signals.

Remedying Google’s generation and display for search results

Google’s harm also extends to developing features of general search, including generative artificial intelligence. The DoJ says that “these results and features often rely on websites and other content created by third parties, who have little-to-no bargaining power against Google’s monopoly and who cannot risk retaliation or exclusion from Google.”

For this, the DoJ is proposing to prohibit Google from using contracts to undermine rivals’ access to web content. It also wants to level the playing field by requiring Google to allow websites crawled for Google Search to opt out of training or appearing in any Google-owned artificial intelligence product or feature on Google Search.

Remedying Google’s advertising scale and monetization

Google’s monopolistic behavior has undermined advertisers’ choice of search providers and rivals’ ability to monetize search advertising. This has allowed Google to profit off text ads while degrading their quality.

Proposed remedies include addressing Google’s use of scale and licensing or syndicating its ad feed independent of its search results.

As mentioned, Google will be filing its rebuttal to the Court. We’re in for a long drawn out legal battle, but it’s become increasingly clear that the future of Android and Chrome could look a fair bit different from what it is today.