Google told to sell Chrome

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked Google to sell off its Chrome browser, shared data and search results with rivals in a bid to end its monopoly on online search.

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The proposals also include barring Google from re-entering the browser market for five years, and pushing for it to sell its Android mobile operating system, as seen in the documents by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. In the proposal, it is stated that Google should be stopped from investing or buying search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology in a bid to even out the playing field.

The DOJ stated that making these changes would “unleash a significant opportunity for existing competitors and innovative technologies” to offer consumers who use general search services and the advertisers who sell to them meaningful choices and competitive rates for the first time in over a decade.

The purposes of the following remedies are to “unfetter the monopolised markets from Google’s exclusionary practices, pry open the monopolised markets to competition, remove barriers to entry, and ensure there remain no practices likely to result in unlawful monopolisation of these markets”, said the statement.

It added that a successful remedy requires that Google stop third-party payments that exclude rivals by advantaging Google and discouraging procompetitive partnerships that would offer entrants access to efficient and effective distribution; disclose data sufficient to level the scale-based playing field it has illegally slanted.

The proposal comes after a judge ruled Alphabet, Google’s parent company had a monopoly over online search and related ads in August this year. Agreeing with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the judge ruled that Google had indeed broken the law by paying US$41 billion to ensure it was the default search engine on smartphones and browsers.

Google's search advertising revenue is a major component of its total income. In 2023, Google generated around US$162 billion from search advertising, accounting for the bulk of Alphabet Inc.'s total revenue, which was approximately US$280 billion. This revenue mainly comes from Google's ability to display targeted ads in response to users' search queries.

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