The Justice Department is reportedly considering a push for a historic breakup of Google’s business empire after a federal judge ruled the Big Tech giant has an illegal monopoly over online search.
DOJ attorneys could ask Judge Amit Mehta to order Google to sell portions of its business – with potential candidates for divestment including its Android operating system, Chrome web browser and advertising platform AdWords, Bloomberg reported.
A potential sell-off of Android – the world’s most widely-used operating system – has generated the most discussion among the DOJ attorneys crafting the agency’s plan, the outlet said, citing sources with knowledge of the agency’s discussions.
The feds are also weighing “less severe” options, such as requiring Google to share data with rival search engines such as DuckDuckGo and Microsoft’s Bing.