A Bold Move to Shatter Search Monopoly

• The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has demanded that Google sell its Chrome browser as part of a series of remedies to dismantle its online search monopoly.
• The DOJ’s proposed remedies also include barring Google from entering contracts that make its search engine the default on smartphones and browsers.

As reported by the BBC, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has suggested several remedies to end Google’s monopoly in online search, including selling its Chrome browser, the world’s most popular web browser. The proposals were included in a court filing late Wednesday.

The DOJ also recommended that District Judge Amit Mehta prohibit Google from entering into contractual agreements with companies like Apple and Samsung that make Google’s search engine the default on numerous smartphones and browsers. These proposed remedies result from a landmark anti-competition ruling in August, in which Judge Mehta found Google guilty of illicitly suppressing its competition in online search.

A group of US states joined the DOJ in the filing, arguing that the proposed changes would bring competition to a monopolized market. In the words of the government lawyers, “Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled.”

Google responded to these proposals by accusing the DOJ of promoting a “radical interventionist agenda” that would undermine the United States’ global technology leadership and harm its citizens. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, criticized the DOJ’s proposal as excessively broad, going “miles beyond the Court’s decision.”

Google is expected to present its counter-proposals by 20 December, and Judge Mehta is likely to deliver a decision by the summer of 2025. According to Statcounter, a web traffic analysis platform, Google’s search engine currently accounts for roughly 90% of all online searches worldwide.

The government attorneys also asserted that Google’s ownership and control of the Chrome browser and Android operating system have enabled it to direct users to its search engine. The proposal includes a five-year ban on Google re-entering the browser market and court supervision of Android to prevent Google from using its ecosystem to favor its general search and search text ad monopolies.

The DOJ lawsuit against Google was initiated towards the end of Donald Trump’s first administration, raising questions about how the incoming administration might approach the case. Rebecca Allensworth, associate dean for research and anti-trust professor at Vanderbilt Law School, posited that it’s unlikely that the second Trump administration would withdraw from a case they had filed.

Professor Laura Phillips-Sawyer of the University of Georgia School of Law argues that the proposed changes could be instrumental in reintroducing competition into the online search market. She argues that Google’s dominance in search and its resulting access to user data have not only improved its search algorithm and text ad sales but have also effectively barred new entrants from securing a distribution channel. If Judge Mehta accepts the proposed remedies, Google’s competitors, including new entrants, may get a chance to flourish.