Monopoly position: US government wants Google to sell its browser

As "Bloomberg" reports, the USA government is planning to break up Google's monopoly. The news portal refers to "several anonymous sources involved in the plans". The Federal District Court in Washington D.C. ruled last August that the search giant has a monopoly and is exploiting it illegally. Specifically: Google is exploiting its market power in favour of its own search engine business - to the detriment of its competitors.

Google should sell businesses

According to Bloomberg, the US government has considered several ways of breaking Google's monopoly. One scenario would have been to separate the Android mobile operating system from Google. This was rejected again. Now the US government wants Google to sell its Chrome browser. This represents a central entry point to Google search and thus favours the monopoly position. This in itself is not the problem, but the way Google handles it.

Google should also communicate more transparently with advertisers and give them more control over where their adverts appear. In addition, the company must provide options that allow website operators to withhold their content from Google's AI models - specifically Gemini.

In addition, it is rumoured that Google will have to separate Android from Google Search and the Google Play app store - but without selling the rights to Android itself. Google is due to hold a hearing on this matter next April and a final decision could be made in August.

Google criticises "radical agenda"

Google's Vice President of Legal Affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, criticised the decision and these possible scenarios to Bloomberg. With Judge Amit Mehta's decision and the ideas for demonopolisation, "those responsible are pursuing a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case".

Another factor in this case is the change of government that will take place in the USA on 20 January 2025. In addition to the office of President, which will pass to Donald Trump, the position of Attorney General will also fall into new hands.

Trump's current preferred candidate is Matt Gaetz, a member of the Republican Party. This is known for a less regulated economic policy than the Democratic Party, to which the current incumbent Merrick Garland belongs.

The process against Google was already started under the Trump administration. How Gaetz would proceed as the new Attorney General will probably also depend on the opinion of the new president. During the election campaign, he initially complained about Google because critical articles about him could be found there. On the other hand, he recently expressed scepticism about the idea of splitting up the company in view of the power struggle with China.

Who will buy Chrome?

If the sale of Chrome is actually required by law, a buyer is still needed. Only a few companies would be able to afford this financially. Chrome is by far the most widely used browser in the world (market share, as of September 2024: 64.9 per cent) and an important component of Google's business model - a potential sale price would probably be correspondingly high.

The danger would be great.

The risk would be great that a sale to another tech giant would create a new monopoly that could potentially be exploited. That would probably not be in the interests of the US government.