U.S. Proposes Breakup of Google to Fix Search Monopoly
The New York Times
In a landmark antitrust case, the government asked a judge to force the company to sell its popular Chrome browser.
The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome, its popular web browser, a move that could fundamentally alter the $2 trillion company’s business and reshape competition on the internet.
The request followed a landmark ruling in August by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search. Judge Mehta asked the Justice Department and the states that brought the antitrust case to submit solutions by the end of Wednesday to correct the search monopoly.
Beyond the sale of Chrome, the government asked Judge Mehta to give Google a choice: Either sell Android, its smartphone operating system, or be barred from making its services mandatory on phones that use Android to operate. If Google broke those terms, or the remedies failed to improve competition, the government could force the company to sell Android at a later date.
In a sweeping filing, the government also asked the judge to stop Google from entering into paid agreements with Apple and others to be the automatically selected search engine on smartphones and in browsers. The court should also require Google to allow rival search engines to display the company’s results and have access to its data for a decade, the government said.
The proposals are the most significant remedies requested in a tech antitrust case since the Justice Department asked to break up Microsoft in 2000. If Judge Mehta adopts the proposals, they will set the tone for a string of other antitrust cases that challenge the dominance of tech behemoths, including Apple, Amazon and Meta.
Being forced to sell Chrome and Android would be among the worst possible outcomes for Google. Chrome, which was introduced in 2008 and is free to use, is the most popular web browser in the world, with an estimated 67 percent of the global browser market, according to Statcounter, which compiles tech market data. Google’s search engine is bundled into Chrome.
Harry Styles is host and musical guest, while James Austin Johnson and Colin Jost cement their duo as President Trump and his defense secretary on “Saturday Night Live.”
Eleven medical organizations advised changes to preventive cardiac care that it says could markedly reduce heart attacks and strokes.
Two recent deaths tied to for-profit clinics in Canada raised concerns about the health effects of having plasma drawn as often as twice a week.
Amazon, Google and others struck deals in the Persian Gulf to foot the bill for A.I. development. Iran has now threatened attacks against the companies’ infrastructure in the region.
Despite the lack of big names or critical hype, the romance adaptation “Virgin River” has been one of Netflix’s biggest, most reliable successes.
A “red alert” involving the private Blue Ghost mission in lunar orbit a year ago highlights a growing number of incidents above Earth’s neighbor.
The tech giant pushed back the timeline after spending billions to be on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence.
Practitioners nationwide are striving to do what’s best for children’s health, while staying supportive in the face of mistrust and confusion.
A group of scientists and law enforcement officials are pointing to the role moss can play to help solve crimes.
Blaming chatbots, they are joining an earlier push for better protections by parents who say social media contributed to their children’s deaths.
Partula snails all but vanished from Polynesia after the arrival of a carnivorous foreign snail. But a global alliance of zoos has worked to bring them back.
Though high rates of the disease persist among the nearby Indigenous communities, the Canadian government is weighing rules that may allow energy giants to release treated mining waste into the river system.
A new study offers clues as to how the insects survive flooding as they emerge from a hibernation-like phase every winter.