The US government has called for Google and Chrome to be broken up – and possibly Android too

The US Justice Department actually wants to force Google to sell the Chrome browser and also believes that it may be necessary to force Google to sell the Android mobile operating system. This comes from a now public filing in the federal district court in Washington DC, which has ruled against what the government says is Google abusing its market power in favor of its search engine business. In addition to these two particularly radical countermeasures, the US government is also seeking to ban contracts with third parties that exclude competitors. For example, this will not only impact Apple, but also Mozilla. The main features of the application were known in advance.

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Selling Android as an Alternative

By Now the application has been submitted It also says the court should determine that Google is not allowed to prioritize its own search engine over the company’s other products. For example, the US government is concerned about YouTube or the AI ​​technology Gemini. Furthermore, Google would be obliged to make its own search index available to competitors at marginal or marginal cost. Furthermore, Google should be prohibited from suppressing emerging competition through takeovers, acquisitions of shares or partnerships. The US government is demanding that Google commit to greater transparency for its advertising clients.

Overall, the application shows that the US government sees no option but to dismantle Chrome. With the browser, the company has solidified its dominance and hence there is no way around sales. The plaintiffs demand a say about the potential buyer. Additionally, Google should be banned from returning to the browser market for five years. On the other hand, with Android, they see two options; The obligation to sell is only the first and “simplest solution”. Otherwise, extensive supervision should be exercised to ensure that Android is not misused to promote Google searches. If that doesn’t work, a forced sell will still be an option.

Uncertainty about Trump’s plans

The decision on Google’s monopoly status was made as part of a court case initiated under Donald Trump. According to the decision, Google has a monopoly in general search engines and in the submarket of text advertising on general search engines. This alone would not be illegal, but according to the court, Google illegally exploited these monopolies to hinder competition. The next step is to consider the possible consequences, and Google will protest strongly and may submit its own proposal in December on how to stop the anti-competitive behavior.

How this process will continue is unclear given the political situation in the United States. Because a decision about the results will not be made until next summer, by which time Donald Trump will be back as US President. The direction of their government in this process may be completely different; He had already expressed doubts about breaking up Google during the election campaign. He argued that this would help China. Instead, he wants more fairness in search results. Google has now been criticized for taking measures that degrade the quality of its products and jeopardize the security of user data. Firefox will also be damaged. Google’s money is an important source of income for Mozilla.

(mho)