Google is once again at the center of an antitrust battle. The US Justice Department is proposing tougher measures against the company — this time including the forced sale of Chrome browser, the termination of standard search agreements and the granting of access to user data to competitors.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a federal court is considering whether to declare Google’s dominant position in online search illegal. The trial is being presided over by Judge Amit Mehta — the same one who previously found Google to be abusing its monopoly.
Action to end monopoly
As Justice Department spokesman David Dahlquist noted, the court could end the dominance of the Internet that has been shaped by several generations. The department has previously argued for the need to break up the company, citing a successful lawsuit against Google’s advertising business.
Google currently controls about 90% of the global search market. The company is said to have paid Apple more than $20 billion a year to maintain its status as the main search engine in the Safari browser.
Chrome could be valued at $20 billion
If the Justice Department’s initiative is accepted, Google is likely to sell Chrome for $20 billion. This would be a historic measure of pressure on technology giants and could also send an important signal to companies such as Meta, Amazon and Apple.
In addition, the Justice Department is putting forward additional requirements, such as restricting the use of content for AI-generated responses and separating the Android system from Google services.
Google’s position and possible consequences
Google denies these claims, arguing that such measures would harm the market, lead to higher prices and slow innovation. The company cites Meta and other platforms as examples of competitors.
In the future, the CEO of YouTube and the heads of Google’s advertising department are expected to be questioned in court. Analysts estimate that if the lawsuit is decided in favor of the Justice Department, Google’s total financial losses could reach $100 billion.
Second blow
This is the second antitrust case against Google in the past two months, after the company was found to have unlawfully dominated the search market in August, in one of the largest antitrust rulings in the past 20 years.
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