Alphabet Inc’s Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data and search results with rivals, and take other measures — including possibly selling Android — to end its monopoly on online search, prosecutors argued in a US court on Wednesday.
Such changes could result in Google being regulated for as many as 10 years via a committee appointed by the Washington federal court that ruled it held an illegal monopoly in search and related advertising in the US.
The measures presented by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) are part of a landmark case which has the potential to reshape how users find information. In the US, Google processes 90 percent of searches.
Photo: Josh Edelson / AFP
“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,” the DOJ and state antitrust enforcers said in a court filing on Wednesday.
Their proposals include ending exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple Inc and other device vendors to make its search engine the default on their tablets and smartphones.
The filing expands on an earlier outline on how the government wants to end Google’s monopoly in the US. Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake US competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
US District Judge Amit Mehta has scheduled a trial on the proposals for April, though US president-elect Donald Trump and the DOJ’s next antitrust head could step in and change course in the case.
The proposals are wide-ranging, including barring Google from re-entering the browser market for five years and insisting Google sell its Android mobile operating system if other remedies fail to restore competition. The DOJ has also requested a prohibition on Google buying or investing in search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology.
A five-person technical committee appointed by the judge would enforce compliance under prosecutors’ proposals. The committee, which Google would pay for, would have the power to demand documents, interview employees and delve into software code, the filing showed.
The measures together are meant to break “a perpetual feedback loop that further entrenches Google” through additional users, data and advertising dollars, prosecutors said.
Google would have a chance to present its own proposals next month.
Prosecutors crafted the proposals after speaking with companies that compete with Google, including search engine DuckDuckGo.
“We think this is a really big deal and will lower the barriers to competition,” DuckDuckGo’s head of public affairs Kamyl Bazbaz said.
DuckDuckGo has accused Google of trying to dodge European Union rules requiring data sharing. Google said it would not compromise user trust by giving competitors sensitive data.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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