"Pernicious Harms": US Threatens Google Of Breaking UP
The US government is considering to break-up with Google, the world’s biggest search engine. Washington seeks the move accusing the platform of causing “pernicious harms” to Americans. The Department of Justice has been considering the so-called remedies since the court ruling in August, which said Google illegally crushed its competition in online search.
Google described the proposal as “radical” and “sweeping”. It claimed that they “risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.
If the DOJ moves ahead with the proposed remedies, and are accepted by the judge handling the case, it would represent arguably the biggest regulatory intervention in the history of big tech.
DOJ accuses Google of using its other products, such as the Chrome browser and Android operating system, to funnel users to its search engine, where it makes money by selling adverts.
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“Google’s unlawful conduct persisted for over a decade and involved a number of self-reinforcing tactics”, said the DOJ in a court filing. The Department said such doing of Google is making it hard for the potential competitors to get a foothold in the online search market.
It also pointed out that the lack of competition has allowed Google to charge abnormally high prices for adverts “while degrading the quality of those ads and the related services”.
The DOJ is considering “remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play [its app store], and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products”.
Reportedly, the DOJ is expected to submit a more detailed set of proposals by 20 November. Google can submit its own proposed remedies by 20th December.
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Google is the biggest go-to search engine for almost all the internet users in the world. It constitutes to about 90 percentage of all online searches.
Responding to the issue, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the recommendations constitute “government overreach” and could result in higher prices for consumers. He made the remarks in a blog post.
She admits that Google makes its Chrome browser and Android operating system free because they are gateways to “help people access the web and use our products.
The vice president also argues that by paying companies such as Apple and Samsung billions of dollars a year to be the default search engine on their devices, they effectively subsidise those products, and if they stopped paying, the prices of those products will also go up.
(With inputs from agencies)
