DOJ Seeks to Force Google to Sell Chrome and Unbundle Android to Break Search Monopoly

Nov 18, 2024, 11:42 PM

Following an August ruling by Judge Amit Mehta that Google unlawfully monopolized search, top antitrust officials at the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general have decided to ask a federal judge to force Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., to sell off its Chrome browser in an effort to break up its search monopoly. The DOJ intends to propose measures that would require Google to sell the underlying 'click and query' data and separately syndicate its search results. The department also seeks to impose behavioral remedies, including unbundling Android from Google Play and search, and implementing measures that would allow websites to opt out of artificial intelligence data scraping. Google has responded, stating that the DOJ's proposals would harm consumers and developers. This move represents a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world.