Should Google Be Broken Apart?

The consumer group Consumer Watchdog is planning to ask the Justice Department to “launch an antitrust action against the search giant and seek remedies including a possible break up,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The group will host a press conference in Washington, D.C. tomorrow where it will argue that there’s enough evidence to warrant antitrust action from the feds.

“We, as an organization, have concluded that there’s enough evidence on the table to warrant this, to go beyond the reactive steps that the regulatory agencies have followed up until now,” said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog.

The paper points out that the Justice Department doesn’t have to do anything just because of what a consumer group says. On the other hand, this call for action is coming on the heels of other issues, like Google’s plan to buy AdMob, its ongoing battle with publishers and authors over Google Books, and some trouble in the EU over whether it ranks competitors fairly in searches.

“Consumer group to call for Google break up” [SFGate]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.