The US could forcibly break up Android, Chrome from Google

We just had an exciting Pixel 9 series launch from Google, and those devices certainly warrant our attention. However, on the business side, things are not looking that good for the company. Earlier this month, a US District Court ruled that Google violated US antitrust laws when it preloaded its search engine and web browser on Android devices, capitalizing on its monopolistic position. As part of the remediation, the US Department of Justice is exploring the possibility of breaking up Android and Chrome away from Google.

Google will appeal the District Court’s decision, but the judge has also ordered both sides to begin plans for the case’s second phase. The second phase will involve government proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request, which the judge can then impose upon Google and its parent company, Alphabet.

A report from Bloomberg, citing unidentified people discussing private conversations, suggests that the Department of Justice is exploring several options, including:

• Breaking up Android and Chrome from Google.
• Banning exclusive search contracts.
• Forced sale of Google’s AdWords business.
• Forcing interoperability requirements for AdWords to make it work seamlessly on other search engines.
• Stopping Google from forcing websites to allow their content to be used for some of Google’s AI products, in order to appear in search results.
• Forcing Google to divest or license its data to rivals like Bing or DuckDuckGo.

The report corroborates an earlier analysis from The Information, which also examined the possibility of the government ordering Google to divest of Android. It also suggested that Google’s search exclusivity deals with Apple and Mozilla, worth tens of billions of dollars in revenue, are also in the crosshair. Google may also be forced to open its training data to competing AIs.

Breaking up Android away from Google would be quite a severe move. The US DoJ tried to dismantle companies, such as Microsoft, for illegal monopolization two decades ago, but it didn’t succeed then. The most plausible remedy would be to stop the exclusive search contracts, which would still profoundly impact all the parties concerned.

From how the analysis and the reports are worded, there’s also a chance that a combination of these remedies could be forced upon Google. It remains to be seen what the future looks like for Android, Chrome, and Google in light of this antitrust case.

We’ve contacted Google for comments on the report. We’ll update the article when we hear back from them.