Google could be forced to sell Chrome. Here’s what you need to know
LA TimesThe Department of Justice is proposing that a federal judge break up Google to restore competition to the online search market. As part of their proposed penalties, Justice Department officials also suggested the judge impose restrictions on Android, Google’s mobile operating system, to prevent it from favoring Google products. The Department of Justice says forcing Google to divest Chrome would create more competition and stop the search giant’s control over a “browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.” Google pushed back, calling the request an “unprecedented government overreach” that would harm consumers and U.S. tech leadership. Another potential fix includes requiring Google to display a “choice screen” on every Google browser when a user hasn’t selected a default search engine. Kent Walker, chief legal officer at Google and its parent company, Alphabet, in a blog post called the government’s proposal a “radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” Google opposes the idea that it should install “choice screens” on its browser and alleges that would hinder people’s abilities to use the company’s products.