The US Department of Justice is examining the possibility of breaking up Alphabet, Google's parent company, following a precedent-setting court ruling that established that the technology giant is a monopoly in the Internet search market, according to Bloomberg News.
According to sources privy to the details of the discussions, the break up is only one of the options being considered by the Ministry of Justice. Other options include forcing Google to share more information with its competitors and taking steps to prevent an unfair advantage in the development of artificial intelligence products.
In any case, it is likely that the administration will seek to prohibit the type of exclusive contracts of the giant with other companies that were at the center of the lawsuit against it. If the Ministry of Justice decides to advance a plan to break up the company, the divisions that will likely be put up for sale are the Android operating system and the Chrome web browser. In addition, the possibility of forcing the sale of AdWords, the platform that Google uses to sell advertising on the Internet, is also being examined.
* Ynet contributed to this article.
