• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 5, 2025

Google last week asked officials from the Justice Department to take a less aggressive approach other than breaking up the search engine company after last year's ruling that the tech giant illegally monopolized online search, according to a report.

The trial for remedies based on the U.S. government's antitrust case against Google is scheduled for April 22, 2025. The outcome could include a forced sale of the company’s Chrome web browser, restrict its exclusivity deals, and curb its investments in AI firms.

These remedies are something the Biden administration in November 2024 had recommended to the Justice department.

“We routinely meet with regulators, including with the DOJ to discuss this case," a Google spokesperson told MediaPost. "As we’ve publicly said, we’re concerned the current proposals would harm the American economy and national security.”

Google is looking for a different outcome -- something other than a breakup of the search engine giant, according to Bloomberg, citing knowledgeable people who asked for anonymity.

The company has repeatedly warned that regulatory action could undermine U.S. global technology leadership. In a November blog post, Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, called the DOJ’s proposed remedy a “radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”

Walker said it would endanger the security and privacy of Americans, as well as require disclosure to unknown foreign and domestic companies of not just Google’s innovations and results, but Americans’ personal search queries.

During last week’s meeting, Google representatives did not specify particular threats from the DOJ’s proposals but emphasized the company’s critical role in national security and the economy, per Bloomberg, which also reported that both are due to file their final proposals to the judge on Friday.

Google’s latest argument seems more in line with the Trump administration's broader concerns around international regulatory pressure on U.S. tech companies.

Last month, the White House criticized European Union regulations — the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act — arguing that they unfairly target American firms and pursued more aggressive regulations toward U.S.-based big tech firms in the ad industry, more so than in the past.

The European Commission prepared to charge Google with violating the DMA after the company's proposed changes to search results failed to satisfy regulators and rivals.

For the most part, big tech companies have become more confident in challenging EU regulations with the backing of Donald Trump, but it’s apparent that some challenges have yet to be resolved.