US Justice Department forces Google to sell Chrome web browser

US Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Google to sell its Chrome browser in order to break up its monopoly.

Google is likely to face a series of legal issues from the US Department of Justice - Photo: REUTERS

Bloomberg news agency on November 18 quoted sources familiar with the plan as saying that the Justice Department will ask Judge Amit Mehta - who ruled that Google illegally monopolized the search market in August - to review Google's artificial intelligence (AI) and Android operating systems.

Owning the world's most popular web browser is key to Google's advertising business. The company can control how users access the internet and what ads they see through its Chrome browser.

In addition, Chrome is also a data collector, which uses this information to adjust promotions and advertising programs in a more effective way.

This contributes a large part to Google's revenue as Chrome is the most widely used browser in the world, accounting for about two-thirds of the global browser market share.

The Ministry of Justice has not yet commented on the above information.

On the other side, Ms. Lee-Anne Mulholland - Vice President of Legal Affairs at Google - said the Department of Justice is pushing "a radical agenda that goes beyond legal issues".

At the same time, Ms. Mulholland also commented that "such government intervention would harm users, developers and operators of American technology corporations."

Will Trump break up Google?

The move is seen as the Biden administration's most aggressive effort to curb the monopoly of large technology corporations since Washington failed to break up Microsoft two decades ago, according to Bloomberg.

However, the situation may become more tense after Donald Trump takes office in January 2025, according to Reuters news agency.

Two months before the election, Mr. Trump vowed to prosecute Google for what the Republican president-elect called bias against him.

A month later, Mr. Trump questioned whether breaking up the company was a good idea.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-tu-phap-my-buoc-google-ban-trinh-duyet-web-chrome-20241119110644873.htm