BUSINESS DAY
Antitrust officials from the Justice Department are coming together to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser, the most widely used browser, because it represents a monopolised access point through which many people use its search engine.
According to a Bloomberg report, the department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolised the search market, to require measures related to Artificial Intelligence and Google’s Android smartphone operating system.
These antitrust officials and states that have joined the case also plan to recommend on Wednesday that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements. As an implication, if Mehta accepts the proposals, they have the potential to reshape the online search market and the burgeoning AI industry.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, said the Justice Department “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”
She added, “the government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.”
The report said the government could decide later whether a Chrome sale is necessary if some of the other aspects of the remedy create a more competitive market.
According to StatCounter, a web traffic analytics service, the Chrome browser controls about 61 percent of the US market.
The report further revealed that the US government attorneys met with dozens of companies over the past three months as they prepared the recommendation. States are still considering adding some proposals, and some details could change, it said.
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