The US Department of Justice has a passion for prosecuting tech giants, but it also has a knack for keeping its demands unclear. In its latest filing with Judge Amit Mehta, the DOJ continues its crusade against Google, insisting that the company must be broken apart like a bargain-bin piñata. The objective is to force Google to sell off Chrome, and possibly Android, after last year’s ruling branded it a modern-day robber baron.
This is not the first time DOJ has taken a swing at Google. Their original pitch last year was roughly the same: strip the company of its web browser and phone operating system as punishment for its monopolistic ways. But now, under a new administration that simultaneously deregulates and threatens Big Tech depending on the day, the DOJ has adjusted its approach.
If Google was expecting a reprieve under Trump 2.0, it might want to hit refresh. Despite the conventional wisdom that a Republican administration would take a softer approach on tech regulation, it turns out that Google is just as likely to be in the crosshairs as it was under Biden. The difference? Less righteous grandstanding and more quiet, surgical strikes.
For all the tech libertarians who thought Trump’s election meant a deregulation free-for-all, former FTC chairman William Kovacic has a reality check: “Google can’t derive much comfort from the election results… I think those federal efforts would carry on.” In other words, the company should brace for impact.
According to the Financial Times, Trump’s shortlist for antitrust enforcers includes Mark Meador, a Justice Department alum with a penchant for breaking up monopolies, and Gail Slater, an aide to Vice President-elect JD Vance. Both are the kind of people who won’t be offering Big Tech a cozy backroom deal. Instead, they’ll be keeping the pressure right where Biden’s team left it, on companies like Google, whose empire has been built on scraping, indexing, and monopolizing digital real estate.
