Joe Biden's administration has been busy during the last few weeks of his presidency.
Not only are they spending their time imposing sanctions on Israelis, funding Palestinian terrorists and trying their best to spark all-out-war in Europe, they're now focusing on the big bad wolf of Silicon Valley: Google.
On Wednesday, Biden's Justice Department filed a 23-page manifesto asking a judge to rip apart Google's empire, including the sale of Google's Chrome web browser (you know, the one you're probably using to read this article) and to restrict Android phones from favoring Google's own search engine.
According to the DOJ, for the past decade, Google has been squashing competition. This follows a ruling in August by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that Google is a monopolist.
This is the first time in over two decades that a tech company of this size has been declared a monopoly. Ironically, the breakup of Microsoft in 2001 after years of court battles allowed for small startups like Google to seize control of the tech landscape in the aftermath.
Not only does the Justice Department want to stop Google from cutting multi-billion-dollar deals that make its search engine the default on every device - saving us the hassle of having to ask that idiot, Jeeves - they also want Google to open up its search data to rivals.
(Because nothing builds competition like handing your competitors one of your biggest successes on a silver platter.)
Regulators also want to ban Google from favoring its own products, like YouTube or its new AI platform, Gemini. Because in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's America, self-promotion is just … not allowed. Right?
Google's legal team, led by Kent Walker, called the proposals "radical" and claimed they'd harm Americans and our global tech dominance.
According to Walker, the DOJ's proposal would:
Endanger the security and privacy of millions of Americans, and undermine the quality of products people love, by forcing the sale of Chrome and potentially Android.
Require disclosure to unknown foreign and domestic companies of not just Google's innovations and results, but even more troublingly, Americans' personal search queries.
Chill our investment in artificial intelligence, perhaps the most important innovation of our time, where Google plays a leading role.
Hurt innovative services, like Mozilla's Firefox, whose businesses depend on charging Google for Search placement.
Deliberately hobble people's ability to access Google Search.
Mandate government micromanagement of Google Search and other technologies by appointing a "Technical Committee" with enormous power over your online experience.
"DOJ's approach would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses — and jeopardize America's global economic and technological leadership at precisely the moment it's needed most," Walker concluded.
To be fair, government overreach is kinda the only thing Biden and Harris are good at.
(Ironic that Google was the #1 corporate donor to Kamala's campaign though!)
Follow Ian on Substack or X (@ighaworth).
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
