Justice Department pushes to break Google's search monopoly
The US Department of Justice is urging Google to divest its Chrome browser and share data with competitors to dismantle its monopoly in the internet search market, "The Guardian" reports.
The US Department of Justice requests a court order to compel Google to sell the Chrome browser and supply data and search results to its rivals. According to "The Guardian," these measures aim to dismantle Google's dominance in the internet search market.
Will Chrome be sold?
Prosecutors contend that these changes will subject Google to rigorous regulation for 10 years, entailing oversight by the same federal court in Washington that determined the company holds an unlawful monopoly in online search and advertising. Google controls approximately 90% of the internet search market.
"The Guardian" reports that the US Department of Justice also insists that Google be banned from re-entering the browser market for five years and potentially sell the Android operating system if other measures fail to restore competition. The Department also seeks to prevent Google from investing in competing search engines, AI query-based products, and advertising technologies.
Google is anticipated to present its proposals in December, and a trial on this matter is set for April.
"Illegal monopoly" case against Google. A groundbreaking verdict
Google holds an illegal search monopoly - as ruled by a US court. The tech giant spent billions over the years to become the default internet search engine, but the court concluded that this breached antitrust law.
"Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," stated Judge Amit Mehta from Washington. Google controls roughly 90% of the online search market and 95% of smartphones. Mehta noted that in 2021, Google spent over £19 billion to secure its dominant presence in the internet browser market.
Gigantic fine for Google
In September, the European Court of Justice upheld a fine of 2.4 billion euros (approximately £2.1 billion) imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position by favouring its product comparison service.
In June 2017, the European Commission found that in the European market, Google favoured the results of its product comparison service on its general search results page over those from competing online comparison sites.
Google featured the search results of its product comparison service prominently and highlighted them in "boxes" with eye-catching visual and text information. In contrast, search results from competing comparison sites appeared only as ordinary general results, visible as blue links.
