The US Justice Department is reportedly considering asking a federal judge to compel Google to sell parts of its business. Yes, you heard that right—an actual break-up of one of the world’s largest tech firms might be on the table, potentially setting the stage for a historic dismantling.

Antitrust officials are debating whether splitting up Google could reduce the company’s overwhelming dominance in search or at least diminish it. According to the Justice Department’s latest court filing—confirming earlier reports by Bloomberg News—the judge in question, Amit Mehta, could even order Google to open up access to the underlying data it uses for search results and its shiny AI products. A bold move indeed.

In a 32-page document, the Department of Justice lays out several potential remedies for the judge to consider, including making Google’s troves of data more accessible. And if that doesn’t quite do it, they suggest stopping Google from using products like Chrome, Play, and Android to promote its own search-related goodies. Yes, the Justice Department seems to have had enough of Google pushing its search engine and AI at every turn.

And there’s more: by next month, the Justice Department plans to present a more detailed proposal outlining its vision for what “remedies” might look like. This includes gathering more evidence from Google before a two-week hearing on these so-called remedies, scheduled for April. Judge Mehta will issue a ruling on these reparations by August 2025.

Of course, Google isn’t taking this lying down. Its stock fell 2.8% on Wednesday and dipped another 1.6% during early trading in New York. But the company’s already signalled it will appeal Judge Mehta’s ruling, so don’t expect any swift justice here—there’s likely to be years of courtroom drama ahead.

Google’s potential break-up might be the most significant action taken against a tech giant since Washington failed to dismantle Microsoft two decades ago. As part of a broader crackdown on Big Tech, the Justice Department has also gone after Apple, accusing the company of stifling innovation by barring rivals from accessing its hardware and software features. Meanwhile, the FTC is busy probing Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon over their cosy relationships with AI startups.

For its part, Google has called the Justice Department’s suggestion to break up the company “radical” and warned of “significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness.” Naturally, Google isn’t thrilled at sharing its vast data empire or being told to stop favouring itself on every conceivable platform.

The European Union also toyed with the idea of breaking up Google last year. Margrethe Vestager, ever the enthusiastic enforcer of EU competition rules, declared that the only way to stop Google from favouring its ad tech services over competitors would be to force it to sell parts of its business. The EU has already fined Google over €8 billion for antitrust violations across various services, but clearly, this was only a warm-up for the main event.

Back in the US, some state-level lawsuits have joined the growing chorus of dissent, with groups suggesting that Google should fund a public education campaign to teach people how to switch to a different search engine—because, you know, that’s the real problem here. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, a separate federal judge recently ordered Google to open up its app store to resolve an unrelated antitrust case brought by Epic Games Inc.

It seems Google’s woes are far from over. A third trial focusing on Google’s dominance in the online advertising market is expected to conclude by the end of this year. If the company is found to have monopolised that market, the Justice Department will likely ask the court to force Google to sell off parts of its ad tech business.
So, buckle up, Google. The fight has only just begun.