The US Justice Department has proposed a historic breakup of Google to force the tech giant to sell its Chrome web browser and prevent its Android operating system from favoring its own search engine.

The move comes after a federal court ruled in August that Google maintained an abusive monopoly over the online search market for the past decade.

Extensive proposals from the Ministry of Justice

In a 23-page document filed late Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) outlined its recommendations to US District Judge Amit Mehta. Among the most significant measures is the forced sale of Chrome, the world’s most widely used web browser, which has billions of users and more than half of the global browser market.

The Justice Department says that getting rid of Chrome would “permanently end Google’s control over this critical search access point and allow competing search engines access to the browser that is the gateway to the Internet for many users.”

Restrictions on Google’s Android smartphone software could include separating Google services from Android and ending exclusivity agreements that make Google the default search engine on devices from manufacturers like Apple.

Such deals currently contribute to Google controlling about 90 percent of the online search market and 95 percent of smartphones.

Google’s answer

In response to previous Justice Department proposals, Google strongly criticized the latest proposals, calling them “radical” and warning that they would harm consumers, developers and America’s technology leadership.

“As one example, the DOJ proposal would literally require us to install not one, but two separate selection screens before you can access Google Search on [Google] The Pixel phone you purchased,” Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, wrote on Google’s official blog earlier Thursday. Keyword.

“And the design of these selected screens would have to be approved by the Technical Commission. And that’s only a small part. We wish we were making it up,” he added.

Walker went on to say that the Justice Department’s approach would “result in unprecedented government overreach” and “harm innovative services … whose business depends on charging for Google Search placement.”

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said the Justice Department is pursuing an agenda that “goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”

She added that government intervention would “harm consumers, developers and America’s technology leadership at a time when it is most needed.”

Industry response

The proposed breakup drew a number of reactions from industry observers. Some analysts question the practicality of separating Chrome from Google. John Gruber, author of the tech blog Daring Fireball, likened the idea to “saying I have to sell my left leg. It’s very valuable to me, but it’s not valuable to anyone.”

“This may be one of the dumbest moves ever,” wrote Max Weinbach, an analyst at Creative Strategies, Inc., on X (formerly Twitter).

“Google maintains Chromium for several other ISAs. Google doesn’t necessarily make money from Chromium, so forcing them to sell it means basically killing it and Google forking their own version of Chrome so they stop building for the ecosystem,” he added. .

Others see the Justice Department’s actions as necessary to restore competition in the search market.

Kamyl Bazbaz, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at DuckDuckGo, a rival who testified against Google, said that “reversing Google’s overlapping and widespread illegal conduct over more than a decade requires more than a contractual restriction: it requires a series of remedies to creating a permanent competition.”

Potential implications for the Chrome department

If the court accepts the Justice Department’s recommendation, the breakup could significantly change the landscape of the tech industry. A divestment of Chrome could disrupt Google’s integrated ecosystem of services, potentially affecting the user experience and the company’s revenue model, which relies heavily on advertising.

Extracting Chrome from Google could present challenges in finding a buyer and keeping the browser viable as a standalone product.

“Chrome is not a standalone business,” Daring Fireball’s Gruber noted. “Both are just Google add-ons that serve only as distribution channels for the advertising that Google displays in search results.”

The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on possible appeals in April 2025, with Judge Mehta aiming to issue a final decision before Labor Day. Google plans to unveil its own designs on December 20.