3 hours Ago By Varun Godinho
Google, one of the world’s largest tech companies, is facing the possibility of being forced to sell off its Chrome browser. In August, US Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google illegally monopolised the search market through exclusive deals to crush its rivals. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion in the case brought against the company by the Justice Department and a group of states.
Now, the Justice Department is set to ask the judge to force Alphabet’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser. Owning the world’s most popular web browser is key for Google’s lucrative ads business. The company can see activity from signed-in users, and use that data to more effectively target promotions, which generate the bulk of its revenue, reported Bloomberg .
Google has also been using Chrome to direct users to its flagship AI product, Gemini. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said the Justice Department “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.” She added, “The government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.
” The antitrust officials have reportedly pulled back from a more severe option that would have required Google to sell off Android. Mehta’s August ruling that Google broke antitrust laws in both online search and search text ads markets followed a 10-week trial last year. Google said it plans to appeal.
The judge has set a two-week hearing in April on what changes Google must make to remedy the illegal behaviour and plans to issue a final ruling by August 2025. The Justice Department and the states have settled on recommending that Google be required to license the results and data from its popular search engine and give websites more options to prevent their content from being used by Google’s artificial intelligence products. The antitrust enforcers are also reportedly set to propose that Google uncouple its Android smartphone operating system from its other products, including search and its Google Play mobile app store, which are now bundled.
They are also prepared to seek a requirement that Google share more information with advertisers and give them more control over where their ads appear. In a separate case also filed in the US, Google was taken to court by the Justice Department and forced to justify its stand in court that it doesn’t operate its adtech business as an illegal monopoly and that it has competition within the space. In that trial, Google has been alleged to have monopolised the technology used to buy and sell website ads, harming publishers and advertisers in the process.
Judge Leonie Brinkema who is presiding over the ad tech trial has scheduled closing arguments for November 25 and aims to issue a ruling before the end of the year..
