US May Demand Google to Sell Chrome Browser: Report

Google may soon face a major shakeup as the US

Department of Justice (DO]) plans to request a court order forcing its parent Alphabet to sell its Chrome internet browser.

According to a Bloomberg News report, the department will ask judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require measures related to artificial intelligence (AI) and its Android smartphone operating

The report quotes people familiar with the matter who said that antitrust enforcers want the judge to order Google to sell off Chrome - because "it represents a key access point through which many people use its search engine."

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If judge Mehta approves the DOJ's proposals, Google may have to sell one of its biggest business - Chrome. It could significantly reshape the online search market and the rapidly growing Al industry.

Google's ownership of Chrome is central to its advertising empire. Chrome also plays a strategic role in promoting Google's Al ambitions, particularly Gemini, its flagship Al product.

Gemini is poised to evolve beyond providing answers to becoming a personalized assistant that follows users across the web, enhancing Google's ecosystem and dominance.

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The case was initiated during the Trump administration and carried forward under President Biden

"It marks the most aggressive effort to rein in a technology company since Washington unsuccessfully sought to break up Microsoft Corp. two decades ago," Bloomberg says.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, criticized the DOJ's actions as a"radical agenda" exceeding the case's legal scope and warned it would ultimately harm consumers.

She said that the Justice Department "continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case."

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