Athira Sethu
Kochi, 22 April 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued Google in a large antitrust case. They think Google is abusing its power, particularly on the web and in artificial intelligence (AI). The government wishes to have tough regulations to prevent Google from remaining too dominant.
The case began on Monday. A DOJ attorney stated that the ability of Google to control search enables it to develop superior AI technology. The technology then sends users back to Google’s search engine. He cautioned that this makes Google more powerful and damages fair competition.
The government is asking the court to order Google to sell Chrome and discontinue its practice of entering into deals that position it as the default search engine on phones and browsers. The exclusive deals, with Apple and Samsung among others, enable Google to maintain its dominance. The judge had already concluded such deals contributed to the creation of a monopoly.
The DOJ claims that this case could transform the internet forever, as previous cases transformed phone and oil companies when large corporations such as AT&T and Standard Oil were dismantled.
The trial also indicated that Google is paying Samsung a huge sum of money per month to preload its Gemini AI app on devices. The figure was not specified, but the DOJ indicated that it was a very substantial amount.
Google is not in agreement with the DOJ. Google contends its AI technologies shouldn’t be included in this case and that it’s merely attempting to produce quality products. Google maintains that altering things at this point may delay American innovation. It also asserts that ending its payments to device manufacturers would damage companies like Mozilla that depend on that funding.
The DOJ would like to prevent Google from having its lone deals and possibly force the firm to divest portions of the business if something else fails.
This action is part of a broader push by the government to place regulations on big tech firms, such as Google, Meta (who owns Facebook), and others.
