Search giant Google still faces a potential breakup 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 in a landmark antitrust case that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over internet search.
“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 Justice Department said in a court filing.
The revised proposal left in place most of the solutions suggested by the department under the Biden administration, 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,” Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement.
The Mountain View, Calif., 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 Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The government said that it wants Google to divest Chrome because doing so would “allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.” The Department of Justice 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 department 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.
