谷歌正面临着关乎生死存亡的威胁，美国政府试图拆分这家公司，以惩罚其将革命性的搜索引擎变成非法垄断工具的行径。
这场备受瞩目的法律交锋于上周一在华盛顿的法庭拉开帷幕，为期三周的听证会正式启动，旨在判定如何针对谷歌在搜索市场的垄断经营行为施加惩处。在开庭陈词中，联邦反垄断执法机构还敦促法庭采取具有前瞻性的补救措施，以遏制谷歌借助人工智能技术进一步巩固其主导地位。
美国司法部律师大卫·达尔奎斯特（David Dahlquist）表示：“此刻堪称关键节点，我们正站在历史的十字路口。难道我们要就此舍弃搜索市场，将其拱手让予垄断者掌控，还是要让竞争占据上风，为子孙后代开辟更多选择空间？”
这场被法律界称为“补救措施听证会”的司法程序，预计将迎来多位证人出庭作证，其中就包括谷歌首席执行官桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）。
美国司法部要求联邦法官下达全面整改令，禁止谷歌与苹果（Apple）及其他科技公司达成价值数十亿美元、使其搜索引擎得以规避竞争冲击的交易；要求谷歌向竞争对手开放其核心用户数据资源库，并强制其出售广受欢迎的Chrome浏览器业务。
谷歌代理律师约翰·施密特莱因（John Schmidtlein）在开庭陈述中表示，法庭应采取更为宽松的措施。他指出，政府提出的激进补救措施非但无法促进竞争，反而可能造成技术实力较弱的竞争对手不公平地从中获利的局面。
施密特莱因说：“谷歌凭借自身实力，光明正大地在市场中脱颖而出，赢得如今的地位。”
而如今这场决定谷歌命运的关键时刻，距美国司法部提起那起具有里程碑意义的诉讼，已然过去四年半之久。彼时，该诉讼指控谷歌的搜索引擎，在长达十多年的时间里，滥用其作为互联网主要入口的特权地位，打压竞争，阻碍创新。
2023年，此案正式开庭审理。联邦法官于去年作出裁决，判定谷歌长期通过实施反竞争交易策略，成功将其搜索引擎确立为iPhone、个人电脑等主流设备（涵盖搭载安卓系统的设备）用户获取数字信息的首选平台。
美国地方法院法官阿米特·梅塔（Amit Mehta）作出的这一具有里程碑意义的裁决，引发了一场高风险的戏剧性事件，这将决定谷歌在搜索市场的不当行为所应承受的惩处。自1998年拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）和谢尔盖·布林（Sergey Brin）在硅谷的一间车库里创立谷歌以来，该公司便始终在搜索市场占据主导地位。
自那段筚路蓝缕的创业岁月起，谷歌的业务版图已远远超出搜索领域，成为电子邮件、数字地图、在线视频、网页浏览、智能手机软件及数据中心领域的巨头。
如今，美国司法部凭借在搜索反垄断案中取得的胜利，正全力主张采取更为激进的措施，以遏制谷歌及其母公司Alphabet Inc.的扩张势头。
美国司法部在概述其拟议处罚措施的文件中指出：“谷歌的非法行径催生了一个经济巨头，该巨头通过破坏市场环境，确保自身在任何情形下都能立于不败之地。在此背景下，美国公众被迫承受该经济巨头提出的无度索求，以及其反复无常的意识形态倾向，以此换取可能符合自身需求的搜索引擎服务。”
尽管这些针对谷歌的拟议处罚措施最初由乔·拜登总统任期内的美国政府提出，但唐纳德·特朗普领导下的美国司法部同样对其表示支持。特朗普在首个任期内便已针对谷歌提起诉讼。自政府换届以来，美国司法部一直试图将谷歌的巨大权力描绘成对自由的潜在威胁。
达尔奎斯特在开庭陈述中指出，美国司法部多位高级官员亲临法庭现场旁听诉讼进程。他表示，他们的到场表明这起案件得到了历任与现任联邦反垄断监管机构的全力支持。
达尔奎斯特说：“这起案件于2020年提起诉讼，2023年进入审理阶段，历经两届政府更迭，且有49个州参与其中，这表明了案件本身以及我们所提议的补救措施不存在党派倾向。”
达尔奎斯特还表示，梅塔法官将会接触到大量与人工智能相关的信息——“法官阁下，其内容或许远超您的预期”——并且像ChatGPT这样的人工智能公司的高管们也将被传唤作证。他说，法庭的补救措施应包括相关条款，从而防止谷歌借助其人工智能产品Gemini进一步巩固现有的搜索市场垄断地位。
达尔奎斯特说：“我们认为，若裁决中不纳入这些条款，谷歌完全有能力且必然会尝试规避法庭的补救措施。生成式人工智能是谷歌维持其恶性循环的下一个发展阶段。”
谷歌的律师施密特莱因则称，近年来，竞争对手的人工智能公司已实现显著增长，并且发展得“相当不错”。
谷歌还就拟议的与竞争对手共享在线搜索数据条款，以及出售Chrome浏览器可能引发的隐私与安全隐患发出了警告。谷歌律师在听证会前提交的一份文件中指出：“这些拟议补救措施覆盖范围之广、介入程度之深，极有可能对复杂的生态系统造成严重破坏。部分拟议的补救措施不仅会损害浏览器开发者的利益，还将威胁数百万消费者的数字安全。”
这场围绕谷歌命运的司法博弈，标志着自上世纪90年代末美国司法部起诉微软（Microsoft）利用个人电脑操作系统Windows打压潜在竞争对手以来，美国规模最大的反垄断案件进入了关键阶段。
微软反垄断案最终以联邦法官裁定该公司构成非法垄断并责令实施部分拆分措施而告终——不过这一补救措施最终被上诉法院予以撤销。
谷歌计划对梅塔法官去年作出的判定其搜索引擎构成非法垄断的裁决提出上诉，但需待补救措施听证会程序全部结束后方可启动上诉流程。在5月下旬完成结结案陈词后，梅塔法官计划于劳动节前就补救措施作出裁决。
这起搜索领域反垄断诉讼堪称针对科技巨头的反垄断案的“开篇之作”，后续一系列案件紧随其后，目标直指脸书（Facebook）及Instagram的母公司Meta Platforms——该公司目前正深陷华盛顿特区另一场司法审判，被指控在社交媒体市场实施非法垄断行为。与此同时，苹果与亚马逊（Amazon）也分别面临反垄断诉讼。
美国司法部于另一桩反垄断诉讼中，将矛头对准谷歌的数字广告网络。上周，另一位联邦法官作出裁决，判定谷歌在该市场同样存在滥用权力的行为。这一裁决意味着谷歌将面临另一场补救措施听证会，这可能会在今年晚些时候或明年年初再度引发外界对其面临拆分风险的担忧。（财富中文网）
译者：中慧言-王芳
WASHINGTON (AP) — Google is confronting an existential threat as the U.S. government tries to break up the company as punishment for turning its revolutionary search engine into an illegal monopoly.
The drama began to unfold Monday in a Washington courtroom as three weeks of hearings kicked off to determine how the company should be penalized for operating a monopoly in search. In its opening arguments, federal antitrust enforcers also urged the court to impose forward-looking remedies to prevent Google from using artificial intelligence to further its dominance.
“This is a moment in time, we’re at an inflection point, will we abandon the search market and surrender them to control of the monopolists or will we let competition prevail and give choice to future generations,” said Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist.
The proceedings, known in legal parlance as a “remedy hearing,” are set to feature a parade of witnesses that includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to order a radical shake-up that would ban Google from striking the multibillion dollar deals with Apple and other tech companies that shield its search engine from competition, share its repository of valuable user data with rivals and force a sale of its popular Chrome browser.
Google’s attorney, John Schmidtlein, said in his opening statement that the court should take a much lighter touch. He said the government’s heavy-handed proposed remedies wouldn’t boost competition but instead unfairly reward lesser rivals with inferior technology.
“Google won its place in the market fair and square,” Schmidtlein said.
The moment of reckoning comes four-and-a-half-years after the Justice Department filed a landmark lawsuit alleging Google’s search engine had been abusing its power as the internet’s main gateway to stifle competition and innovation for more than a decade.
After the case finally went to trial in 2023, a federal judge last year ruled Google had been making anti-competitive deals to lock in its search engine as the go-to place for digital information on the iPhone, personal computers and other widely used devices, including those running on its own Android software.
That landmark ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sets up a high-stakes drama that will determine the penalties for Google’s misconduct in a search market that it has defined since Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998.
Since that austere start, Google has expanded far beyond search to become a powerhouse in email, digital mapping, online video, web browsing, smartphone software and data centers.
Seizing upon its victory in the search case, the Justice Department is now setting out to prove that radical steps must be taken to rein in Google and its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc.
“Google’s illegal conduct has created an economic goliath, one that wreaks havoc over the marketplace to ensure that — no matter what occurs — Google always wins,” the Justice Department argued in documents outlining its proposed penalties. “The American people thus are forced to accept the unbridled demands and shifting, ideological preferences of an economic leviathan in return for a search engine the public may enjoy.”
Although the proposed penalties were originally made under President Joe Biden’s term, they are still being embraced by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, whose first administration filed the case against Google. Since the change in administrations, the Justice Department has also attempted to cast Google’s immense power as a threat to freedom, too.
In his opening statement, Dahlquist noted that top officials from the Justice Department were in the room to watch proceedings. He said their presence indicated that the case had the full support of federal antitrust regulators, both past and present.
“The fact that this case was filed in 2020, tried in 2023, under two different administrations, and joined by 49 states demonstrates the non-partisan nature of this case and our proposed remedies,” Dahlquist said.
Dahlquist also said that Mehta would be hearing a lot about AI — “perhaps more than you want, your honor,” — and said top executives from AI companies, like ChatGPT, would be called to testify. He said the court’s remedies should include provisions to make sure that Google’s AI product, Gemini, isn’t used to strengthen its existing search monopoly.
“We believe that Google can and will attempt to circumvent the court’s remedies if it is not included,” Dahlquist said. “Gen AI is Google’s next evolution to keep their vicious cycle spinning.”
Schmidtlein, Google’s attorney, said rival AI companies had seen enormous growth in recent years and were doing “just fine.”
Google is also sounding alarms about the proposed requirements to share online search data with rivals and the proposed sale of Chrome posing privacy and security risks. “The breadth and depth of the proposed remedies risks doing significant damage to a complex ecosystem. Some of the proposed remedies would imperil browser developers and jeopardize the digital security of millions of consumers,” Google lawyers said in a filing leading up to hearings.
The showdown over Google’s fate marks the climax of the biggest antitrust case in the U.S. since the Justice Department sued Microsoft in the late 1990s for leveraging its Windows software for personal computers to crush potential rivals.
The Microsoft battle culminated in a federal judge declaring the company an illegal monopoly and ordering a partial breakup — a remedy that was eventually overturned by an appeals court.
Google intends to file an appeal of Mehta’s ruling from last year that branded its search engine as an illegal monopoly but can’t do so until the remedy hearings are completed. After closing arguments are presented in late May, Mehta intends to make his decision on the remedies before Labor Day.
The search case marked the first in a succession of antitrust cases that have been brought against a litany of tech giants that include Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, which is currently fighting allegations of running an illegal monopoly in social media in another Washington D.C. trial. Other antitrust cases have been brought against both Apple and Amazon, too.
The Justice Department also targeted Google’s digital advertising network in a separate antitrust case that resulted last week in another federal judge’s decision that found the company was abusing its power in that market, too. That ruling means Google will be heading into another remedy hearing that could once again raise the specter of a breakup later this year or early next year.