US looks to force Google to sell Chrome

This was floated in a 23-page document filed on Wednesday according to the AP, which quotes the filing saying the sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.”

It also stated that Google should still be required to divest Android if its oversight committee “continues to see evidence of misconduct.”

The US Regulator also apparently wants Google to license the search index data it collects, giving rivals a better chance at competing.

In response, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer of Google and Alphabet, Kent Walker, described the move as a “staggering proposal that seeks dramatic changes to Google services.”

In it he said: “DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone OEMs, and wireless carriers.

“Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership. DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”

Walker said the proposal would require Google to install two separate choice screens before accessing Google Search on a Pixel phone, and more generally “would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses — and jeopardize America’s global economic and technological leadership at precisely the moment it’s needed most.”

At the end of last year a jury found Google holds an illegal app-store monopoly through Google Play, and the same court was charged with determining what measures should be taken. The FTC in August this year urged the courts to be ruthless in this pursuit.

The press release stated: "In its amicus brief, the FTC encourages the court to use its broad power to order a remedy that stops the illegal conduct, prevents its recurrence, and restores competition. Injunctive relief should also restore lost competition in a forward-looking way and should ensure a monopolist is not continuing to reap the advantages and benefits obtained through the antitrust violation.”

This can be all be seen in the context of a wider crackdown on what the current US administration sees as big tech monopolies, sentiments which are echoed in other governmental bodies such most notably the EU.