Google will still have to break up its business, DOJ says

Out with the old, in with the…old.

Google will have to break up its business, the US Department of Justice said in a filing on Friday, upholding the position of the Biden-era DOJ, who, following an August ruling that Google Search is an illegal monopoly and acted like one to maintain its dominance, proposed a series of remedies:

• Google should be forced to sell Chrome.
• Google would be blocked from entering into paid agreements with Apple, Mozilla, etc. to be the default search engine on smartphones and browsers (in 2021, Google paid Apple $26.3 billion to be Safari’s default web browser).
• Google should be forced to divest any stakes in AI products that could compete with Search.

The Trump DOJ’s filing on Friday reiterated the above steps, but with one change – Google can still invest in AI, but it would have to notify federal and state officials before doing so. This reportedly came about after the Google-backed AI startup Anthropic told the government that it needs the company's money to continue operating.

The breakup is one-sided: Google, on the other hand, is petitioning for the judge to take a more narrow approach that would allow the company to enter into non-exclusive agreements for default search-engine placement, with browser manufacturers like Apple and Mozilla being able to change their default search engines at least every 12 months.

👀 Looking ahead…Arguments in the case are scheduled for April.