The US Department of Justice called for powerful controls to stop Google from widening its dominance of the search engine market, as the high-stakes antitrust case began in the US Supreme Court on Monday.
Following the ruling last August that declared the Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary an illegal monopoly, the three-week remedy hearing aims to determine appropriate punishments for the company, including a potential break-up.
In his opening remarks, DoJ attorney David Dahlquist said: "This is a moment in time, we’re at an inflexion point."
"Will we abandon the search market and surrender them to control of the monopolists,or will we let competition prevail and give choice to future generations?"
Now, said Dahlquist, is the "time to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws."
He also called on the court to prevent Google from using artificial intelligence products, specifically Google’s AI chatbot Gemini, to gain more power in online search.
"This court's remedy should be forward-looking and not ignore what is on the horizon," he said, adding that Google's monopoly in the online search market helps improve its AI products, which are also a way the company leads users to its search engine.
In his opening statement, Google attorney John Schmidtlein said the US government’s proposals will reward lesser rivals with inferior search products and not increase competition for consumers.
Alphabet's shares fell 2.3% after-hours in the US to $149.86, up are indicated to open around 1% higher on Tuesday.