Internet US government seeks sale of Google's Chrome browser

The US government wants to enforce in court that Google must divest itself of the world's most widely used web browser Chrome. The Department of Justice has proposed the measure in the competition case against Google in Washington.

However, it remains to be seen how the case will proceed. The judge will not make a decision until next summer. Until then, Donald Trump will be US President and will be sworn in on January 20. And his government's course in the proceedings could be very different.

In an interview during the election campaign, Trump expressed skepticism about breaking up Google. He argued that this would help China. Instead, he wanted more fairness in search results, Trump said.

The judge had already ruled in the proceedings in August that Google had a monopoly on internet searches and was defending it against competition by unfair means. The question now is what measures should be taken against this.

Access to some data

Chrome is the most widely used browser for surfing the web with a market share of around 60 percent in the USA and around two thirds worldwide.

Among other things, the Department of Justice is also demanding that Google be obliged to grant competitors access to some data. At the same time, the US government wants to ensure that Google cannot favor its own services and does not hold any shares in competitors in Internet search. The previous day, the financial service Bloomberg had already written about the key points of the government's plans.

For the time being, the Department of Justice is not calling for Google to be separated from the Android smartphone system, as this would be too complex an undertaking. However, the US government wants to maintain this as a threat - in case other measures are not effective enough.

SDA