Google met with Trump’s DOJ in effort to avoid historic break-up of search giant

Alphabet’s Google met with President Donald Trump’s government last week and urged them to back away from a push to break up the search engine company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department is currently pursuing two anti-monopoly cases against Google – one over search and another over advertising technology.

“We routinely meet with regulators, including with the DOJ to discuss this case. As we’ve publicly said, we’re concerned the current proposals would harm the American economy and national security,” a Google spokesperson said.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The department has laid out potential remedies in the search case, including making Google divest parts of its business such as the Chrome Web browser and ending agreements that make it the default search engine on devices like Apple’s iPhone.

The trial over which of the remedies are appropriate is scheduled to take place in April, with a final ruling expected in August.

President Trump is expected to dial back on some of the antitrust policies pursued under the former President Joe Biden’s administration, potentially including a bid to break up Google over its dominance in online search, industry experts have said.