The U.S. Department of Justice is exploring options that include dismantling Google, a week after the tech giant was found guilty of illegally monopolizing the online search market.
In early August, the American giant was convicted of anti-competitive practices in the United States. The verdict, delivered last week, states that Google violated antitrust laws by spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the default search engine worldwide.
This judgment is seen as the first major victory for federal authorities against the market dominance of large tech companies. A historic decision that opens the door to the potential breakup of the company, a sanction being seriously considered by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to sources from several American media outlets, including Bloomberg and The New York Times.
Among the scenarios under consideration is the separation of the Android mobile operating system, which is used on about 2.5 billion devices. Additionally, Google forces device manufacturers to sign agreements to access its applications (Gmail, Play Store…), agreements that require the Google search widget and the Chrome browser to be installed without the possibility of removal, noted Judge Amit Mehta during his verdict.
Other options for the Department of Justice include forcing Google to share its data with competitors and taking measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in the field of artificial intelligence products, the report states, citing people familiar with the case.
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