Feds Say Google Must Sell Chrome Browser to End Its Search Monopoly

The Department of Justice has asked a federal court to order Google to sell its Chrome internet browser and the tech giant may be forced to sell its Android mobile operating system business as well.

The proposed punishments are the climax of a years-long antitrust case federal and state prosecutors won against Google earlier this year, in which they argued that the company had been operating an illegal monopoly over internet search and advertising. Core to their arguments was the fact that Google pre-installs its search engine as the default option on its Chrome browsers and Android phones, giving it an uncompetitive advantage over other search companies.

Chrome is by far the most dominant player in the browser industry with more than 60 percent of the market share, by several estimates. Its next nearest competitor, Apple’s Safari browser, serves around 20 percent of the market. Billions of devices worldwide, from multiple manufacturers, run Google’s Android operating system. Thanks in large part to those built-in distribution streams, Google’s search engine captures more than 89 percent of all search queries, according to Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling in the case.

The DOJ’s proposed final judgment, filed on Monday, would force Google to sell the Chrome browser and prohibit it from re-entering the browser market for five years. With respect to Android, the proposal includes “behavioral remedies” that would restrict Google from using the operating system to wall off competition in the search business but the plaintiffs left open the possibility that Google might need to sell Android altogether. They further proposed the creation of a technical committee that would investigate and monitor Google’s implementation of the sanctions.

Additionally, the proposed judgment prohibits Google from entering deals with third parties that would require them to make Google the default search engine on their service or platform. Noting that the massive amount of data Google has amassed is the “essential raw material” that allowed it to monopolize the search industry, the proposal would also require Google to make its search index available at a marginal cost to competitors and provide them with data about user search behavior and search ads free-of-charge for 10 years. And it would require Google to be more transparent with advertisers about how their ads perform on its search engine.

In a press release, Google described the proposal as a “radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership … It would break a range of Google products—even beyond Search—that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”