When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
The US Justice Department (DOJ) is mulling a breakup of Google following a ruling that it holds an unfair search monopoly, according to multiple sources.
Contacts for both Bloomberg and The New York Times claimed officials were exploring multiple avenues in the wake of the antitrust case, including a split of the company. The DOJ would “most likely” order Google to divest the Android or Chrome teams, but Google Ads is also a candidate.
The breakup wouldn’t be the only option for Google, the insiders said. The DOJ might ask for greater interoperability with other search engines, or to make data available to rivals like Bing and DuckDuckGo. It might prevent Google from forcing websites to share data for AI training.
There’s also the potential to ban contracts that make Google the default search engine. The firm is known to pay Apple billions of dollars to make its engine the default in Safari on iPhones and Macs, for instance. Mozilla and Samsung also have deals.
Nothing has been settled regarding Google’s penalty. The tech giant intends to appeal the outcome and will return to the courtroom in September.
The DOJ sued Google in 2020 over allegations its search default deals have helped it maintain its dominance. That, in turn, supposedly fed the company data that sustained its lead over the competition. Smaller rivals like DuckDuckGo or Ecosia simply had no way of gaining ground.
Google has long denied that it has an unfair monopoly and has resisted calls for a breakup. Among its arguments, it has said that users can easily switch defaults or use other engines.
If the DOJ chose a Google breakup, it could have a significant effect on any separated products. All versions of Android and Chrome (not just the Open Source Project and Chromium) would be detached from Google’s services. While that wouldn’t necessarily preclude those teams from arranging Google deals, they wouldn’t be expected like they are now.
