The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked a judge to force Alphabet’s Google to sell off its Chrome internet browser to restore competition in the online search market it dominates.
Prosecutors argued to the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolised the search market, that it should take a broad range of other corrective actions, including sharing data and search results with competitors.
Such changes would essentially result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years, subjecting it to oversight by the Washington federal court.
Google controls about 90 per cent of the online search market and is estimated to have about two-thirds of the global browser market.
“Google’s unlawful behaviour has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,” the DOJ said in a court filing.
The court papers filed on Wednesday night expand on an earlier outline about how the US wants to end Google’s monopoly.
Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in AI.
Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland in a statement said the DOJ was pushing a “radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case”.
The company has said it will appeal.
The DOJ demands are wide-ranging, including barring Google from re-entering the browser market for five years and insisting Google sell its Android mobile operating system if other remedies fail to restore competition.
The DOJ has also requested a prohibition on Google buying or investing in any search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology.
The DOJ and a coalition of states want US District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple and other device vendors to make its search engine the default on their tablets and smartphones.
Google will have a chance to present its own proposals in December with a trial to hear those proposals scheduled for April.
The company plans to appeal once Judge Mehta makes a final ruling, which he is likely to do by August 2025.
The move is one of the most aggressive attempts by the Biden administration to curb what it alleges are Big Tech monopolies, though president-elect Donald Trump and the DOJ’s next antitrust head could step in and change course in the case.
Two months before the election, Mr Trump claimed he would prosecute Google for what he perceives as bias against him. But a month later, he questioned whether breaking up the company was a good idea.
Since Chrome’s market share is so high, it is an important revenue driver for Google. At the same time, when users sign into Chrome with a Google account, Google can offer more targeted search ads.
Google maintains its search engine has won users with its quality, adding that it faces robust competition from Amazon and other sites, and users can choose other search engines as their default.
The government has the option to decide whether a Chrome sale is necessary at a later date if some of the other aspects of the remedy create a more competitive market, the Bloomberg report said.
Reuters
