Google must divest Chrome to end monopoly, US regulators say

US prosecutors asked a judge on Wednesday to force Alphabet's Google to divest its Chrome browser, share data and search results with competitors and take other steps to end its internet search monopoly.

A court filing showed that the Department of Justice urged Google be banned from becoming the default search engine on smartphones, preventing the US tech giant from exploiting its Android mobile operating system.

The world's most popular web browser, Chrome provides user information to Google that helps the company profitably personalize which ads users see. Google controls about 90% of the online search market with over 60% of users relying on Google Chrome to perform those searches.

The sale of Chrome would "permanently stop Google's control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet," the Justice Department said.

Changes in store for Google?

If US courts take the Justice Department's advice to force Google to sell off Chrome, it would come as a significant blow to the company's revenue.

Google has previously called the idea of a breakup "radical." The company is expected to submit its proposals for business practice changes in a court filing next month.  

Adam Kovacevich, chief executive of the Chamber of Progress, an industry trade group, told the AFP news agency that government demands were "fantastical," adding that less intrusive measures were better suited to the case.

Google — the monopolist

In August this year, internet behemoth Alphabet lost the biggest antitrust challenge it has ever faced when a US judge ruled that its Google subsidiary was a monopoly in the online search market.

US Federal Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that $26.3 billion (€24.9 billion) in payments Google made to other companies to make its internet search engine the default option on smartphones and web browsers effectively blocked any other competitor from succeeding in the market.

The new proposal marks the most significant government effort to curb the power of a technology company since the Justice Department unsuccessfully attempted to break up Microsoft two decades ago.

A trial on these proposals is set to begin in April of 2025, and Judge Mehta aims to deliver a verdict before September. However, as President Joe Biden hands over the reins to President-elect Donald Trump, the new Department of Justice officials could alter the course of the case.

mk/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP)