New Delhi: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued for Google to divest itself from the web browser Chrome, as well as potentially giving up its popular operating system Android, in court filings Wednesday.
These steps are a part of suggested remedies by the justice department against the American tech giant, following a court ruling in August that said it has a monopoly in the search engine market.
“Google’s ownership and control of Chrome and Android—key methods for the distribution of search engines to consumers—poses a significant challenge to effectuate a remedy that aims to ‘unfetter (these) market(s) from anticompetitive conduct’,” said the 23-page filing by the US Department of Justice.
The DOJ added: “In order to safeguard against the possibility of further foreclosure and exclusion of rivals and potential entrants including via self-preferencing, the PFJ [proposed final judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome.”
According to the DOJ, the “Chrome default” is a “market reality” that “significantly narrows the available channels of distribution” and therefore harms the emergence of new competitive products. The divestment of Chrome “will restore incentives to rivals and potential entrants to compete” in the search-engine space.
Apart from this, the DOJ has also argued that Google should be prevented from entering exclusive distribution agreements with companies such as Apple and Samsung for the use of its search engine as a default for their products.
Some estimates suggest that Apple earns as much as $25 billion a year from Google in exchange for allowing its search engine to be the default on the company’s popular brand of smartphones.
Different cases in US courts against Google have revealed that the company pays roughly $49 billion a year as traffic-acquisition costs (TACs) to companies like Apple and Samsung in order to remain the default search engine on their hardware products.
With regards to the popular Android operating system, the DOJ has said in its filing that Google divesting ownership of this software would “swiftly, efficiently and decisively” strike at some of the anticompetitive conduct of the company.
The justice department, however, added such action “may draw significant objections from Google or other market participants”.
The DOJ suggested other “behavioural remedies” such as barring Google from making its own services mandatory on devices using Android operating systems, saying more drastic measures can be taken if such measures fail.
These are some of the most aggressive steps the justice department has taken against tech giants since its case against Microsoft in 2000, which was eventually settled in November 2001 and did not see the company broken up by US law.
If Judge Amit Mehta accepts any of the proposed remedies by the DOJ, it could set the bar for a number of similar cases against other tech giants such as Meta, Amazon and Apple to name a few.
The remedies suggested by the DOJ come after the government won its case in US courts in August this year following a 10-week trial in 2023. Judge Mehta in August found Google in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act (US’ antitrust law) by “maintaining a monopoly in two product markets in the United States—general search services and general text advertising”.
Google will file its own proposals in December 2024, following which Judge Mehta will hold hearings likely in spring 2025 before delivering the final punishment for Google sometime in August, The New York Times reported.
Why are Chrome, Android important for Google
The sale of Google Chrome could be a big blow to the American tech giant as nearly 64 percent of internet users globally use the browser according to some estimates, which makes it the most popular browser in the world since its launch in 2008.
Since its launch in 2007, Google’s Android mobile operating system has grown to have about a 71 percent market share globally, with Apple’s iOS coming in a distant second at 27 percent, according to an estimate by Statista.
However, Android being an open-source operating system means that mobile makers do not pay Google for its usage.
Meanwhile, Kent Walker, president, global affairs at Google, said in a statement Thursday that DOJ’s “wildly overbroad” proposal went miles beyond the court’s decision. “It would break a range of Google products—even beyond Search—that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives,” he wrote.
Walker added: “DOJ’s approach would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses—and jeopardise America’s global economic and technological leadership at precisely the moment it’s needed most.”
(Edited by Tikli Basu)