DOJ wants Google to divest from Chrome to break up monopoly

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) wants Google to divest from its home-grown browser, Chrome. It’s a bid to bring competition back to online search after a federal judge labeled the search giant a monopoly in August.

In a 23-page document, the DOJ has outlined what it’d like to see the judge enforce on Google to reduce its dominance in the market. Part of this is that it sees the Chrome browser as a definitive point of accessing its search engine.

Within the document, the DOJ states that by eliminating Chrome from its repertoire it “will 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.”

In August, Judge Amit Mehta deemed the company a “monopolist” as its search engine business was unraveled. The core of the case surrounds Google’s total dominance in the search engine industry, which has been categorized as an illegal monopoly, with the company spending large sums of cash to stay on top.

This included paying Apple $20 billion a year to be the default search engine on iPhone’s Safari browser. During the initial hearings, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft said about Apple, “Whomever they choose, they king-make.”

DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements. Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership. https://t.co/QslGbUyklR

— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) November 21, 2024

Another way to prevent Google from clawing back its lost reach is to prevent it from re-entering the browser field for five years. It is also seeking overhauls to how Google handles Android, as it sees that as giving “preferential access to related products or services” that are under the same umbrella. This includes YouTube and the AI chatbot, Gemini.

While it doesn’t state outright that it wants Google to divest from Android in the same way as Chrome, the document does state that as an alternative, “Google may also choose to divest Android at the outset in lieu of adhering to the requirements of Section V”.

Google’s President of Global Affairs & Chief Legal Officer, Google & Alphabet, Kent Walker has responded in an embittered blog post. Railing against the proposed changes in Google’s business, he called it a “staggering” and “extreme proposal”.

At the core of the blog post, Walker is more concerned with the “unprecedented government overreach” that would ultimately affect its core business practices.

Walker does not agree with the DOJ because it would “endanger the security and privacy of millions of Americans”. On top of this, Walker claims that it would “chill our investment in artificial intelligence”, which he suggests is one of the “most important” innovations at the moment. It is something the company has spent billions on to get ahead of the competition.

Another part is the development of “choice screens” if it were to divest. On Android, if the judge were to enforce this measure, Google would be required to “install not one but two separate choice screens” to access Google Search. Walker laments that it’d also need to be approved by a Technical Committee and that he wishes “we were making this up”.

Those against Google have some concerns that the incoming Trump administration could lead to leniency against the search giant. A new set of eyes will oversee the DOJ, which could impact the case going forward.

Featured image: Wikicommons, Google

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