Search giant Google still faces a potential break up under President Trump’s administration.
The Department of Justice on Friday reaffirmed a proposal that a court force the tech company to sell off its popular Chrome browser to restore competition.
The federal government made the demand last year after a federal judge ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over internet search in a landmark antitrust case.
“Google’s illegal conduct has created an economic goliath, one that wreaks havoc over the marketplace to ensure that — no matter what occurs — Google always wins. American consumers and businesses suffer from Google’s conduct,” the DOJ said in a court filing.
The revised proposal left most of the solutions suggested by the DOJ under Biden’s administration in place, presenting a hurdle to Google as it tries to push back against a breakup.
“DOJ’s sweeping proposals continue to go miles beyond the Court’s decision, and would harm America’s consumers, economy and national security,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels in a statement.
The Mountain View company in December proposed restructuring its business contracts with mobile device manufacturers and wireless carriers. Google also said it plans to appeal the antitrust ruling by Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The government said that they want Google to divest Chrome because doing so will “allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.” The DOJ also proposed other solutions, such as requiring Google to display a “choice screen” on every Google browser when a user hasn’t selected a default search engine.
The DOJ made some changes to its proposed solutions. For example, the government is no longer seeking the mandatory divestiture of Google’s AI investments.
Google and the government are scheduled to present their arguments on proposed solutions before the court in April.
