US Justice Dept. wants Google to hurt more after monopoly trial | usagoldmines.com

Google Search is an illegal monopoly. That’s not just me stirring the pot, it’s the official determination of the US Department of Justice, following an case that finished up in 2024. The DoJ had hoped to force Google to sell or split off the Chrome browser, a remedy the federal judge in the case passed on. But at both the federal and state level, the push to force Google to sell Chrome is continuing.

According to a report from Reuters, both federal prosecutors and state attorneys general are appealing the final punishment put in place by Judge Amit Mehta. They want harsher penalties than being forced to provide search data to competitors. Exactly what remedies the Department of Justice would prefer haven’t been spelled out…but since prosecutors wanted Google to be forced to break off the Chrome browser, Google Search, Android, or some combination thereof, it seems like one of those eventualities is the goal.

It should be pointed out that Google has its own, separate appeal, hoping for an even more lenient sentence. Which seems like a hell of an ask, since the company had avoided the biggest monopoly breakup in the United States since AT&T in the 1980s.

Precisely which states joined in the appeal, and which attorneys general, was not spelled out. That might be a crucial factor. While the prosecution of Google’s search monopoly started under President Biden in 2021 and concluded in his term, the final stages and appeals are occurring under President Trump, who has expressed animosity towards Google in particular, and isn’t afraid to bend the full might of the federal government’s power to personally benefit himself and further his political goals. A particularly relevant example is the Paramount-Skydance merger, which only proceeded with FCC approval after Paramount paid $16 million to Trump personally in a lawsuit settlement.

Michael Crider / Foundry

Google has made various payments and concessions to the Trump administration, in the form of similar lawsuits like a $24.5 million payout over YouTube and donations to Trump’s inauguration fund and White House ballroom construction project. This kind of payola has benefited dozens of other donors, who have seen their federal enforcement problems disappear and their economic options broaden. Nvidia has opened up new avenues for lucrative GPU sales to China by cutting the federal government a slice.

But Google’s generous donations to Trump, both personal and governmental, don’t seem to be solving its regulatory issues. One deputy attorney general told reporters that “Google has deplatformed conservative speech,” and another said Google is a threat to “our freedom of speech, our freedom of thought.” As Newsweek notes, neither of these complaints has actual bearing on the business and monopoly issues that began the investigation and prosecution years ago…but the goals seem to have shifted quite a lot in a new administration.

The appeals from Google and the federal government, the final decision on monopoly enforcement, and exactly how much money and control Google has to give up for Search, Chrome, and Android, will have huge effects on the web as we know it. And that’s without bringing in the second monopoly suit over web advertising, which Google also lost.