DOJ asks judge to order Google to sell Chrome

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a federal judge to order Google to sell off its Chrome browser after the court found the tech giant maintained an illegal monopoly over online search. 

In a filing late Wednesday night, the DOJ argued Google’s ownership and control of Chrome, as well as Android, stand in the way of its efforts to open up the market and prevent future monopolization. 

“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the agency wrote. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.” 

The DOJ’s proposal would require Google to divest from Chrome and prohibit the search giant from owning another browser for five years. It would also block the company from owning or investing in other potential rivals over the same period. 

As for Android — which the agency contended offers Google “myriad obvious and not-so-obvious ways to favor its own search products” — the DOJ said it would ask the company to divest from its mobile operating system only if the other remedies are not effective at reining in its monopoly or Google attempts to circumvent them. 

The remedies also take aim at the exclusive agreements that Google has made with partners, like Apple, to make its search engine the default on their devices. The DOJ’s proposal would prohibit such agreements, which were at the heart of the case. 

Google would also be barred from preferencing its search engine through its other products, such as Android, YouTube or its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Gemini. 

Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer and president of global affairs, described the DOJ’s recommended remedies as a “staggering proposal.” 

“DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone [original equipment manufacturers], and wireless carriers,” Walker wrote in a blog post. 

“Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership,” he added. “DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes 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.” 

After more than two months of trial last fall, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in August that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly over online search — one of the biggest antitrust decisions in decades.

Although Google plans to contest the ruling, the case must first go through the remedies phase before it can be appealed. Mehta is expected to issue a final ruling on remedies by next August.

However, it is unclear how the incoming Trump administration may prompt a shift in the DOJ’s approach to the case. The president-elect appeared hesitant about the possibility of a break-up in October, warning that it could benefit China.

“It’s a very dangerous thing because we want to have great companies,” Trump said at a Bloomberg event. “We don’t want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Google.”

As the search case proceeds into this next stage, Google is facing a second antitrust trial over its practices in advertising technology. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is scheduled to hear closing arguments in the case on Monday.

Updated at 12:01 p.m.