The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is looking into Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google’s AI strategy to assess the potential modifications it may request for addressing the company’s dominance in the search market.
What Happened: The DOJ’s request was made during a hearing on Friday in a federal court in Washington, DC. The hearing was overseen by Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in favor of the DOJ, declaring Google as an illegal monopolist, reported The Verge.
The trial has now entered the remedies phase, where the government will propose solutions to rectify the illegal behavior and restore competition in the market.
DOJ attorney David Dahlquist stated that the government requires more discovery to comprehend the recent state of Google’s business.
The trial had previously covered deals Google made up to the early part of this decade, including a longstanding agreement to provide search services on Apple Inc.’s products.
However, the DOJ’s research concluded just as Google and potential competitors like Microsoft Corp. were starting to introduce a new type of search product centered around generative AI.
The timeline for the remedies phase, which will include another trial-like proceeding, is yet to be agreed upon.
Judge Mehta expressed his preference for the arguments to occur in the first half of next year. The parties are expected to submit a new scheduling proposal by next Friday, the report noted.
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Why It Matters: Last month, after the federal ruling that labeled Google as an illegal monopolist, an antitrust lawsuit was filed by Yelp Inc. against the search and advertising giant.
Yelp alleged that Google is sustaining its monopoly in local search by prioritizing its services over those of its competitors.
The crowd-sourced local business review and social networking site claimed that this practice has stifled competition and reduced the quality of local search results.
Despite the legal challenges, some analysts believe that Google may escape penalties in two out of three antitrust suits it is currently facing.
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