The US Department of Justice may force Google to sell its Chrome browser. The development came after the US Congress' antitrust report on big tech companies.
The DOJ is also said to be targeting Google advertising activity. Prosecutors aim to break Google's monopoly in the $ 162 billion digital advertising market. Politico reported development via anonymous sources.
Google, Chrome and the DOJ
A recent report from the US Congress accused Google of violating antitrust laws and using unfair techniques to kill competition. The report also accused Amazon, Apple and Facebook of similar unfair practices.
Now the Department of Justice is preparing a case against Google. The case could force the search giant to sell part of its business to break its monopoly. If that happens, it will be one of the few court-ordered ruptures in the United States. It will also be a big problem for Google's search engines.
The Mountain View tech giant is using Chrome's large presence to increase search engine usage. Google's reliance on Chrome can be seen from its investments in Chromebooks, which rely heavily on browser-based web apps.
Besides the Chrome web browser, Google is accused of having a monopoly on the online search and search advertising markets. The congressional report also states that Google has killed its competitors by using its Android ecosystem. It is true that Google search is supported by Google Chrome, which is the default web browser on billions of devices.
What would happen?
If the Justice Department removed Google Chrome, a significant chunk of Google's monopoly would be uprooted from the market. But the question remains, what steps will be taken to stop the new Chrome owners / operators to prevent them from building a monopoly?
The congressional report blamed weak laws and weaker law enforcement for the current monopolies in the market. Extracting these companies is unlikely to do much good as their integration is also compromised. If we're going to separate Chrome from Android, it's not as powerful a tool as it is right now.
I like to make it simple, so here is a simple example. Google Chrome stores your passwords, autofill information, bookmarks, and other items securely. I'm more confident about keeping my passwords there, compared to saving them on any other browser, due to constant updates from Google.
So just in case the report is true and the DOJ is preparing to take Google Chrome apart, the browser may lose the sense of security. While we can't say how likely it is that this will happen, the antitrust claims are serious and, if proven, may hamper Google in some way.
DOJ message may force Google to sell Chrome to settle antitrust case: report first appeared on Fossbytes.