The US government has formally asked a federal judge to force Google to sell its Chrome web browser to end the online giant’s monopoly on web searching.
The request was made on Wednesday, November 20, by the US Department of Justice and a coalition of states after a landmark ruling earlier this year found that Google had violated US antitrust law with its search business. Prosecutors have also argued that Google, aside from selling Chrome, must share data and search results with competitors and take a set of other measures to end its online search monopoly. Google said it will appeal.
Ahead of the court filing, Google reacted angrily to the idea that it would have to split from its popular search engine, saying not only it opposes it but moreover, that it would harm consumers and businesses. Google has previously denied operating a monopoly in online search.
“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,” the US Department of Justice said in the court filing.
What Google splitting from Chrome could mean
If approved, the ruling could revolutionize how billions of people search for information on the internet and could potentially disrupt the tight integration between Google’s products and services. It also opens the door to significant antitrust penalties for the tech giant, targeting not only Google’s monopoly in searching the internet, but also its growing ambitions in artificial intelligence.
Google controls almost 90 percent of the global search engine market and Chrome is the most used browser worldwide. Over 60 percent of internet users rely on Google’s browser to perform their searches. If US courts take the Justice Department’s advice to force Google to split from Chrome, it could be a significant blow to the company’s revenue.
Advertising is essential for Google and Alphabet, its parent company. In 2023, Alphabet generated over $230 billion dollars in ad revenue. Nils Seebach, co-CEO and CFO of digital consultancy Etribes told DW that “if Chrome falls, Google falters significantly,” adding that “Chrome in its current setup is is integral to Google’s business model but likely couldn’t survive on its own.”
Ulrich Muller from the anti-monopoly nonprofit Rebalance Now told DW that a Chrome sell-off would reduce Google’s ad income and reduce its market dominance and that this could push the company to compete more heavily based on the quality of its services.
A historic decision on the way
Proclaimed as “the trial of the decade,” this latest proposal is the US government’s most serious attempt yet to curb the power of a technology giant since trying to unsuccessfully split Microsoft 20 years ago.
In August, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost the biggest antitrust challenge it has ever faced when a US judge ruled that Google was a monopoly in the online search market.
US Federal Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that $26.3 billion that Google had paid to other companies in order to make its internet search engine the default browser on smartphones and web browsers had blocked other competitors from succeeding in the market.
Google will present its own proposals in December while the trial is expected to begin in April 2025. A verdict is expected before September 2025.