Today, Bloomberg reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to propose aggressive remedies in its antitrust case against Google’s search distribution deals. According to Bloomberg, these remedies include forcing Google to sell off Chrome; allowing websites to opt-out of AI training; and forcing Google to share its search query and click data with rival search engines.

The case’s remedy process follows the District Court’s verdict that Google’s search default deals improperly gave Google an advantage in search. At the time of the ruling, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter told POLITICO that the verdict “goes on the Mount Rushmore of antitrust cases.” 

“These remedies aren’t driven by the legal standard for narrowly tailored remedies, but by Jonathan Kanter’s ego,” said Chamber of Progress Founder and CEO Adam Kovacevich. “Kanter’s fantastical remedies like Chrome divestiture and AI opt-outs have no connection to the Justice Department’s original case, and requiring Google to share data with rivals will only make Google search worse for consumers. Kanter is more fixated on immortalizing himself on his ‘antitrust Mount Rushmore’ than he is in carving remedies that will hold up in court.”

Since the District Court ruled in August, Google’s critics and competitors have sounded off on potential remedies. 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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