The US Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to break Google’s iron grip on search and search advertising. But if that’s the end game of the antitrust lawsuit unveiled today, don’t expect the government (or Google-haters) to get what they want.
For years now, the Justice Department and 11 Republican-led states have been working to knock Google off its pedestal as the leading search engine. And now, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen is alleging that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act. This follows a 2019 investigation into “market-leading platforms” and their competitive practices. Those of you with long technology memories may recall that the last important time the Sherman Act was used against a company was in 1998 when the DOJ used it on Microsoft.
