Justice Department Seeks Google Chrome Sale To Curb Monopoly

The Justice Department and a group of states proposed a raft of changes to the business practices of Alphabet Inc.’s Google — including a forced sale of the company’s Chrome web browser — in the wake of a landmark ruling that the tech giant illegally monopolized online search.

In a court filing Wednesday, antitrust enforcers said Google must divest Chrome, citing the judge’s earlier ruling that the browser “fortified [Google’s] dominance.” The agency and states said that they would also prefer a divestiture of the Android smartphone operating system, but recognizing that Google and others might oppose that, they would instead propose a series of limits on the business unit.

The government recommended the Chrome divestiture to “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,” according to the filing.

The filing outlined a detailed remedy proposal for US District Judge Amit Mehta, who will decide how to restore lost competition from Google’s illegal conduct following a hearing next spring. At the end of the process, the judge will order Google to make the changes to its business he determines are appropriate.

The Justice Department and states also said that Google should be required to license both its underlying “click and query” data as well as its search results to potential rivals to help them improve their products. The company should also be required to allow websites more ability to opt-out of its artificial intelligence products, and provide advertisers with more control over where their ads are placed.

Bloomberg News earlier reported on the Justice Department’s intention to seek a Chrome sale.

Mehta ruled this summer that Google broke antitrust laws in both online search and search text ads markets.

Wednesday’s filing is the government’s first full proposal on how to alleviate the harm caused by Google’s illegal monopoly. It filed an outline in October, giving some initial views on possible remedy options.

Google has criticised the Justice Department’s proposal as “radical” and said it would likely harm consumers and businesses that use the company’s services.

The company will have the chance to submit its own views next month, with the Justice Department offering additional perspective in March ahead of a planned two-week hearing in April. The Trump administration, which is set to take office in January, could opt to make changes to the proposed injunction in March.