US Government Comes After Google

Google, which has been in the crosshairs of the US government, may be asked to divest itself after the company was found to have built an illegal monopoly in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department.

In the latest in the ongoing saga, the Justice Department has suggested that Google divest its units like Android and Chrome as remedy for illegally maintaining a dominant position in the search market.

The federal agency also recommended that Google be prevented from exerting dominance in the artificial intelligence industry by giving access to rivals the indexes, data and models it uses for Google search and AI-assisted search features.

Google, which processes 90% of US internet searches, has gone out of its way to remain the default search engine on phones and web browsers. The company is known to have paid billions to the likes of Apple and Samsung so they could ship their phones with Google Search set as default, and has made specific design choices that make the process of setting up a new default search engine on your phone or web browser cumbersome, if not outright impossible.

Funnily enough, the US government's case against Google echoes the one it built against Microsoft in 2001. At the time, the US government had accused Microsoft of monopolizing the web browser market for Windows by making it difficult for consumers to switch away from Internet Explorer on their operating systems.

The lawsuit prompted a judge to order a break up of Microsoft, but the ruling was appealed and ultimately resulted in a settlement between the company and the Justice Department.

One could argue that the entire episode between Microsoft and the US government paved the way for other web browsers to get their foot in the door and ultimately cause the death of Internet Explorer.

Google too plans to appeal the ruling in the Justice Department lawsuit which declared the company had monopolized the internet search market, arguing the federal agency's suggestion that Google divest itself went "far beyond the specific legal issues in this case."

In a blog post following the Justice Department's recommendation, Google said breaking up the company would result in "unintended consequences," and could risk the privacy and security of its users were it to happen. Not to mention, splitting off Chrome or Android would "break them," the company said.

This is the second time Google has come under legal scrutiny this week. On Monday, a U.S. judge asked the company to open up its app store so users could download and pay for phone software from outside the default Play marketplace.

Predictably, Google said it would appeal that decision too.

Market watchers are closely watching the US government's antitrust case against Google, and only time will tell whether these rulings would be a win for consumers or an obstacle to American innovation.

Google ranked #3 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week.

In Other News.. 📰

• Former Bitcoin Dev Peter Todd Denies He's Satoshi Hours Before HBO Documentary Airs — via CoinDesk
• Basecamp Research draws $60M to build a ‘GPT for biology’ — via TechCrunch
• TikTok sued by 14 attorneys general over alleged harm to children’s mental health — via CNN
• Turkey blocks instant messaging platform Discord — via Reuters
• OpenAI report details election interference efforts, hoaxes — via Axios
• HSBC exec says there's a lot of AI 'success theater' happening in finance — via CNBC

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends! See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon

*All rankings are current as of Monday. To see how the rankings have changed, please visit HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings page.

Tech, What the Heck!? is a once-weekly newsletter written by HackerNoon editors that combine HackerNoon's proprietary data with news-worthy tech stories from around the internet. Humorous and insightful, the newsletter recaps trending events that are shaping the world of tech. Subscribe here.