Robin Langford
Nov 21, 2024

DOJ to recommend Google sell off its Chrome browser: Report

The internet giant could be required to decouple Android from the Google Play Store and offer publishers more opt out options from its AI products, according to a news report.

DOJ to recommend Google sell off its Chrome browser: Report

The US Justice Department (DOJ) will soon request that a federal judge order Google to sell its Chrome web browser, according to a Bloomberg report.

The move follows an ongoing antitrust case against Google running over the summer, which is expected to reach its conclusion on Wednesday. 

Bloomberg reported the department will recommend that Federal Judge Amit Mehta, who issued the search monopoly ruling in August, will force Google to sell off Chrome.

The Chrome browser is one of Google’s most valuable assets, used by 3.45 billion internet users— rising from 2.74 billion in 2019. 

Chrome has a worldwide browser market share of 63.6% according to Statista, and is an integral part of its multi-billion dollar advertising business.

There may be a lifeline for Google’s ownership of Chrome however, as the article also stated: “The government has the option to decide whether a Chrome sale is necessary at a later date if some of the other aspects of the remedy create a more competitive market.”

A reprieve for Android?

Bloomberg also reported that rather than sell off Android OS, as rumoured, Google will be forced to be decoupled from other products like Search and the Google Play Store. 

Other remedies to be put forward by the judge (according to Bloomberg) include Google being required to offer greater transparency and choice to advertisers over where their ads appear.

The judge will also recommend new data licensing frameworks, alongside more options for publishers to prevent content from being used by Google’s AI products.

In a separate case earlier this year, judge Mehta ruled that Google illegally maintained a search monopoly, saying  “[It] is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly."

The changes required of Google, yet to be confirmed, will be addressed in a two-week hearing in April next year, ahead of a final ruling in August 2025. A lengthy appeal process is expected. 

Google warns of "unintended consequences" for businesses and puts forward "open source" credentials

Performance Marketing World reached out to Google for a response to the report. A Google spokesperson referred its October statement on the DoJ antitrust trial, which outlined a series of "unintended consequences” from the government "pursuing a sweeping agenda that will impact numerous industries and products."

Among those risks, Google highlighted how forcing Google to share search queries, clicks, and results with competitors risks user privacy and security and that "hampering Google’s AI tools risks holding back American innovation at a critical moment."

Referring explicitly to a potential Chrome spin off, Google said: "Chrome is a secure, fast, and free browser and its open-source code provides the backbone for numerous competing browsers...because both Chrome and Android help people access the web and use our products, we offer them (and their underlying code) for free.

"Few companies would have the ability or incentive to keep them open source, or to invest in them at the same level we do," the Google statement continued. "Make no mistake: Breaking them off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices, and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store."

This article first appeared on Performance Marketing World.

 

Source:
Performance Marketing World

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