Break-ups are never easy. But one could be on the cards for Google’s $2tn empire. On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice recommended splitting up the company — spanning its Chrome browser, Play app store and Android operating system — as one of several options to remediate the Big Tech group’s “anti-competitive conduct”. The suggestion follows a landmark court decision in August when a federal judge, Amit Mehta, branded Google a “monopolist”. He said deals it had made with wireless carriers, browser developers and device manufacturers, including Apple, had helped to tighten its hold over the online search market.
Google is under fire on other fronts, too. On Monday another federal judge said the business must open up its Play shopfront for apps to competition. A separate lawsuit argues that the company uses unfair practices to dominate the market for online advertising technology. The cases all feed into the belief that Google’s size is a problem for the tech sector. But it makes more sense to target the company’s ability to entrench its power than to break it up.
Google’s strength in online search — where it handles over 90 per cent of queries — has been underpinned by a network effect. As it has grown, it has collected more user data, allowing it to sharpen its search tools and, in effect, drive more traffic to its site. That has been a boon for its ad-driven revenue model, which has helped it to deliver innovative products from which Google’s users and marketers all benefit. The problem, then, is less about how big it has become, and more about its ability to raise barriers to entry.