The US Department of Justice appears to be mulling a potential break-up of Google after it was ruled to be a "monopolist" by a federal judge earlier this year.
Following judge Amit Mehta's competition decision, DoJ lawyers said in a filing that they are considering "behavioral and structural remedies" for the business owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Remedies necessary to restrain Google from maintaining its monopoly "could include contract requirements and prohibitions; non-discrimination product requirements; data and interoperability requirements; and structural requirements", the DoJ said.
This is because Mehta's ruling found that Google's monopoly position had left rivals with barely any incentive to compete for users, exacerbated by its "monopoly-funded revenue share payments" disincentivising partners from diverting queries to its rivals.
Other suggestions included limiting or prohibiting default agreements and other revenue-sharing arrangements related to search and search-related products, which could include deals with Apple’s iPhone and Samsung devices where Google pays billions of dollars to make sure it is the prime search engine.
Remedies could prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to provide advantage to its Google search and Google search-related products and features over rivals or new entrants.
"Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google's control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow," the filing said.