WASHINGTON – Following reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is considering a “full range of tools,” including forcing Google to break off parts of its company, as a proposed remedy in the US v Google case, Competitiveness Coalition Chair Scott Brown slammed the Biden-Harris Administration for entertaining such an overly aggressive action against a leading U.S. innovator. 

Led by Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter, the DOJ filed its proposed remedy framework last night with the District Court for the District of Columbia. Prior to his role in the Biden Administration, Kanter represented Microsoft, Yelp and other competitors to Google – which has led to accusations of bias and conflict of interest concerns, similar to those facing FTC Chair Lina Khan.

“At a time when the global race for AI supremacy is heating up, with Chinese companies like Baidu touting record new users for its chatbot, punishing a U.S. company so aggressively will only serve to benefit other rivals and harm our country’s competitiveness,” said Brown, a former U.S. Senator and Ambassador. “That the Biden-Harris DOJ is even considering that an American company – which has earned its success due to its innovative edge and strategic investments – splinter off key parts of its business operations shows just how little respect these increasingly radical U.S. regulators have for the economy. Under Assistant Attorney General Kanter and FTC Chair Khan, the DOJ and FTC clearly appear to demonstrate a vendetta against tech companies and using taxpayer dollars and federal resources to do so – an agenda that should outrage conservative lawmakers.”

As the DOJ and the FTC have become more radical, a growing number of voices—both on the left and the right—have voiced concerns against such actions. Even the editorial board of The Washington Post, which does not typically comment on antitrust issues, called the DOJ’s pursuit for structural relief “the most extreme” of potential remedies. The board continued: “that this is so tough a task is cause for caution — not only in this case, but in others against Silicon Valley giants whose immense power can raise concerns but also, it turns out, is awfully convenient.”

Members of the press can contact the coalition at press@competitivenesscoalition.com.

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The Competitiveness Coalition is a first-of-its-kind group educating the public and advocating for policies that put consumers first while fostering innovation and attracting new investment.