DOJ: To break the monopoly, Google must sell Chrome.
According to a filing with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that Google should sell up its Chrome browser to help dismantle the company’s unlawful monopoly in online search.
Judge Amit Mehta of the District Court will ultimately decide Google’s final penalty, which could drastically alter the structure of the internet as we know it and drastically impact one of the biggest companies in the world. It is anticipated that the trial’s phase will begin in 2025.
Google’s control over Android and Chrome, two important distribution channels for its search business, presents “a significant challenge” to applying remedies to make the search market competitive, according to the DOJ’s most recent submission. In order to counteract the search giant’s monopoly, the Justice Department suggested other remedies, such as Google spinning off its Android mobile operating system. The document pointed out that Google and other partners would object to that spin-off and recommended stringent measures, such as preventing Android from hurting its search rivals. The DOJ implied that Google should be compelled to sell Android if it doesn’t impose restrictions on it.
Additionally, prosecutors contended that the business should not be allowed to sign exclusionary third-party agreements with phone or browser firms, like Google’s agreement with Apple, which calls for Google to be the default search engine on all Apple devices. Additionally, the DOJ contended that Google ought to grant competitors a license to use its search and ad click data.
The DOJ also drafted restrictions that would prevent Google from reentering the browser industry for five years following the spinoff of Chrome. Additionally, it suggested that Google should not purchase or possess any competing ad text search, query-based AI, or advertising technology following the sale of Chrome. Additionally, the document included guidelines for publishers to You can choose not to have Google use your data to develop AI algorithms. Google will suffer a severe blow as a rival to OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic in the AI market if the court grants these remedies.
Google’s reaction
Google responded by calling the DOJ’s most recent lawsuit “a radical interventionist agenda” that would hurt Americans and the nation’s technological dominance globally.
The Court’s ruling is far from the scope of DOJ’s absurdly expansive proposal. In a blog post, Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer and president of worldwide affairs, stated that it will disrupt a variety of Google products that people like and find useful in their daily lives, even beyond Search.
Walker further argued that the idea will jeopardize user security and privacy, degrade Chrome and Android, and harm services like Mozilla Firefox, which relies on Google Search.
If the idea is approved, he continued, it will make it more difficult for individuals to use Google Search. Additionally, it would hurt the company’s chances of winning the AI race.
“DOJ’s strategy would lead to unprecedented government overreach that would hurt American small businesses, developers, and consumers — and threaten America’s leadership in technology and the global economy just when it’s most needed,” he said. Next month, the business is scheduled to submit its response to this filing.
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