Google could be forced to sell Chrome browser by DOJ antitrust lawsuit

Google’s unlawful behaviour has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,

the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a court filing

The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,

the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations

It is probably going a little beyond,

Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said of the Chrome breakup

What you can do without breaking it up is make sure it’s more fair,

Trump said last month

John Grubertech commentator

The only way [a spun-off Chrome] could make money is through an integrated search deal,

said tech commentator John Gruber on a recent podcast

Chrome has served Google exceptionally well, but its loss would be a manageable inconvenience,

said Parry

People forget that Google's success was not a result of only having a better product,

Ramaswamy once told The Verge

The worst case scenario is deterioration of security and privacy of billions of users, and the rise of cybercrime on unimaginable levels,

he warned

Chrome is adopting web innovations really fast,

he said, giving Chrome's security features as an example of how Google has innovated

Under such a classification, Chrome's agreements and decisions would be subject to heightened scrutiny, particularly to safeguard consumer welfare and prevent exclusionary practices,

they wrote

The precedent set by Mozilla's financial dependence on Google highlights potential challenges for Chrome in maintaining its operations without similar support,

the researchers said, nodding to the fact Google pays Firefox a lot of money to be its default search engine, despite Firefox's dwindling user numbers

To remedy these harms, the [Initial Proposed Final Judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome, which 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,

the 23-page filing reads

The proposed remedies are designed to end Google's unlawful practices and open up the market for rivals and new entrants to emerge,

the filing reads

Ultimately, in this case, it's going to be one of those things where Google ends up fighting — and fighting very vociferously, fighting very strenuously — to ultimately keep Chrome within its company,

Chafee, the Case Western law professor, said

Google could receive proceeds in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion,

Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management practice at Babson College, told BI

The DOJ continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case,

Lee-Anne Mulholland, the vice president of Google's regulatory affairs, previously told BI in a statement following a Bloomberg report on Monday that included limited details of the proposal

By then, browsers or search engines as we know them today might already be obsolete,

he said

The DMA has yet to achieve its full potential, the search market in the EU has seen little movement, and we believe launching formal investigations is the only way to force Google into compliance,

Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo's vice-president for communications, wrote in a blogpost

My view is this is extremely unlikely,

Singh said in an email

Google is trying to avoid its legal obligation in the name of privacy, which is ironic coming from the Internet’s biggest tracker,

its blog post added