U.S. considers breakup of Google in landmark antitrust case

The U.S. Department of Justice late on Tuesday indicated that it was considering a possible breakup of Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) units like the Chrome browser and Android operating system, as an antitrust remedy.

The remedies necessary to “prevent and restrain monopoly maintenance could include contract requirements and prohibitions; non-discrimination product requirements; data and interoperability requirements; and structural requirements,” the department said in a filing.

The DOJ was also “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants.”

The DOJ’s recommendations comes after a judge found in August that Google (GOOG), which processes 90% of U.S. internet searches, had built an illegal monopoly.

In a blog post published Tuesday, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland said, “we are concerned the DOJ is already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case.”

She further argued that splitting off Chrome or Android “would break them — and many other things.”

Yelp (YELP), which sued Google over search in August, wants Google to be prohibited from giving preference to its own local business pages, which compete with Yelp, in search results.