Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed a series of sweeping remedies in its ongoing antitrust case against Google, including forcing Google to sell off its Chrome browser and make its search index and algorithms available to competitors.

“These proposed remedies go so far beyond the scope of the case that they are like amputating your limbs in response to a hangnail,” said Chamber of Progress Founder and CEO Adam Kovacevich. “The Justice Department ultimately lost its 1990s Microsoft antitrust case because the courts found that its proposed breakup was so extreme, and these fantastical remedies seem destined for the same fate.”

The District Court ruled in August that Google’s search default deals improperly gave Google an advantage in search, giving rise to a flurry of “remedy wishcasting” among Google’s critics and competitors. However, a 2001 appeals court ruling overturned the proposed breakup of Microsoft in part because the breakup remedy was too broad instead of being “tailored to fit the wrong creating the occasion for the remedy.”

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

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