The U.S. government asked a federal judge last month to force Google to sell Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser.
It was the most extreme proposal by the Justice Department to address Google’s monopoly in internet search after the judge’s landmark decision in August, which found the Silicon Valley company had violated antitrust laws. To fix the issue, Google will offer its own remedies this month.
The judge, Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is expected to decide how to address Google’s search monopoly by August. His ruling could cause enormous ripple effects, potentially reshaping the internet.
Here’s what to expect.
Why does Google face a breakup?
The Justice Department and several states sued Google in 2020, accusing it of illegally protecting its monopoly over internet search and search advertising.
Google for years had paid companies including Apple, Samsung and Mozilla billions of dollars to be the automatic search engine on smartphones and web browsers. The government said these contracts were designed to entrench Google’s dominance and make it harder for rivals to compete.
Google’s ironclad hold over online search allowed it to gather more veri from users, which then made its product better and harder for rivals to dislodge, Justice Department lawyers argued during a 10-week trial last year.
