In a statement with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice said that Google should give up its Chrome browser as a way to end the company’s illegal monopoly in online search. Google would not be able to get back into the search market for five years if the DOJ’s solution is accepted.
Judge Amit Mehta of the District Court will decide what Google’s final sentence will be. This could have a huge impact on one of the biggest companies in the world and on how the internet works as we know it. The next part of the study should begin sometime in 2025.
Judge Mehta said in August that Google was abusing its power over the search business, which is against the law. The judge also had problems with Google’s power over different internet gateways and the money the company paid third parties to keep being a default search engine.
In its most recent report, the DOJ said that Google’s control over Android and Chrome, two major ways that its search business is distributed, makes it “significantly challenging” to put in place solutions that will make the search market more open.
In addition to suggesting that Google spin off its Android mobile operating system, the Justice Department also suggested other ways to stop the search giant from having a monopoly. The document said that Google and its partners may not like the spin-off and offered strict solutions, such as not using Android in a way that hurts its search competitors. The DOJ made it sound like Google should be forced to sell Android if it doesn’t put limits on it.
The prosecutors also said that the company shouldn’t be able to make exclusive deals with browser or phone companies. For example, Google’s deal with Apple says that Google will be the preferred search engine on all Apple products.
The DOJ also said that Google should let competitors use its search data and ad click data.
In addition, the DOJ wrote down rules that say Google can’t get back into the browser business for five years after Chrome is released. It also said that Google shouldn’t buy or own any competing ad text search, query-based AI product, or ads technology after the sale of Chrome. Also, the document explained how publishers could tell Google not to use their data to teach AI models.
If the court agrees to these solutions, Google will lose a lot of ground in the AI technology race against OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic.
What Google Did
Google replied that the DOJ’s new filing was “a radical interventionist agenda” that would hurt people in the U.S. and the tech power of the country around the world.
“The DOJ’s proposal is way too broad and goes far beyond the Court’s decision.” In a blog post, Kent Walker, founder of Google and its top lawyer, said, “It would break a range of Google products that people love and find useful in their daily lives, even beyond Search.”
Walker also said that the plan would threaten users’ safety and privacy, lower the quality of Chrome and Android, and hurt services like Mozilla Firefox, which relies on Google Search.
He also said that the plan would make it harder for people to use Google Search if it goes through. It would also hurt the company’s chances in the AI race.
He said, “DOJ’s approach would lead to unprecedented government overreach that would hurt American consumers, developers, and small businesses. It would also put America’s economic and technological leadership at risk at the very time it’s needed the most.”
Next month, the business will say what it thinks about this report.
Also Read: Google Changes the Person in Charge of Search and Ads
The filing on Wednesday backs up earlier reports that prosecutors were thinking about trying to get Google to split off Chrome. According to web traffic service StatCounter, Chrome holds about 61% of the browser market in the U.S.
What do you say about this story? Visit Parhlo World For more.
