MIKE DAVIS: How the Trump DOJ is holding Google accountable

For more than a decade, Google operated like a digital cartel, whether it was rigging markets, crushing small businesses, or silencing conservative voices with zero consequences. The company used its monopoly over online advertising to manipulate prices, dictate who can compete, and control who gets heard. But finally, we have a president and a Department of Justice with the spine to take Google on. And it’s not a moment too soon.

Recently, the DOJ dropped a bombshell: a sweeping proposal to rip apart Google’s monopolistic chokehold on the ad tech market. The plan? Force Google to sell its ad exchange, open-source its core auction system, and, if that doesn’t work, force the company to sell off its publisher ad server entirely. On top of that, the DOJ is demanding oversight and profit disgorgement to make sure Google doesn’t just rebuild its empire in the shadows.

This is not ‘regulation’ as some would have you believe. In fact, this is long-overdue antitrust law enforcement for the Big Tech giant which has run rampant in suppressing opposing voices to leftist causes.

For years, Google abused its monopoly power to destroy competitors and rig the system in its favor. It has been allowed to act with impunity, thanks in no small part to Obama’s pathetic antitrust amnesty, which allowed Big Tech to consolidate power without fear of consequences. That era of looking the other way while Silicon Valley crushed innovation and censored conservative political dissent is over.

This latest action from the DOJ is more than justified. It’s necessary. Google controls both sides of the digital advertising market, between the tools publishers use to sell ads and the exchanges advertisers use to buy them. It’s rigged and corrupt. And it’s exactly the kind of anti-competitive garbage that breaks capitalism and destroys the marketplace of ideas.

Let’s not forget who gets hurt the most: small businesses, independent media outlets, startups that are trying to build something new, and conservatives’ ability to speak freely. Google has systematically snuffed out anything it can’t control and punished anyone who dares to compete or disagree. Whether it’s demonetizing content or flat-out censoring dissenting voices, Google showed it doesn’t just want to win the market. It wants to control the narrative.

Now, with the rise of generative AI, the threat is even bigger. If Google is allowed to monopolize this space like it did with ads and search, it won’t just dominate markets. It will dominate the truth itself. They already manipulate what you see. With AI, they’ll manipulate what you think. That should terrify every freedom-loving American.

So yes, this crackdown is long overdue. But it’s not just about punishing Google. It’s about setting a precedent. It’s about restoring real competition. It’s about protecting American innovation, safeguarding our economy, and defending the principles that make America great, as President Trump says.

The DOJ’s proposed remedies are tough, but they can be tougher if necessary. No half-measures or easy exits. If Google is broken into pieces to restore fairness, then break it up, piece by piece. And if other Big Tech monopolists are watching, they better get the message: The era of consequence-free empire building is over. The Trump administration will ensure Big Tech’s monopolistic power is dismantled board by board, with the antitrust dream team of FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, FTC Commissioner Mark Meador, and Gail Slater, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for antitrust.

We are not standing by while a handful of unelected tech oligarchs run this country from behind a curtain of code and censorship. Not anymore.

Break them up. Make it stick. And don’t stop until the free market is actually free from Google’s chokehold again.