US considers a rare antitrust move: Breaking up Google

The US Justice Department discussions have intensified in the wake of Judge Amit Mehta’s Aug 5 ruling that Google illegally monopolised the markets of online search and search text ads. — AFP

A rare bid to break up Alphabet Inc’s Google is one of the options being considered by the Justice Department after a landmark court ruling found that the company monopolised the online search market, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

The move would be Washington’s first push to dismantle a company for illegal monopolisation since unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft Corp two decades ago. Less severe options include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations.