Alphabet’s Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data and search results with competitors and take a series of other steps to end its monopoly on Internet searches, US prosecutors argued before a judge.
Essentially, such changes would result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years, subjecting it to oversight by the same Washington federal court that ruled the company maintained an illegal monopoly on online search and related advertising.
Google controls around 90% of the online search market.
“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived its rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also of distribution partners that might otherwise allow competitors to enter these markets in new and innovative ways,” the Justice Department said. United States (DoJ) in a judicial file.
The court papers filed Wednesday night expand on an earlier outline of how the United States wants to end Google’s monopoly. Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm American consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
The company has said it will appeal.
The Justice Department’s demands are wide-ranging, including banning Google from re-entering the browser market for five years and insisting that Google sell its Android mobile operating system if other solutions fail to restore competition.
The department has also requested that Google be prohibited from buying or investing in search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states want U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple and other device vendors to make its search engine the default on your tablets and smartphones.
Google will have the opportunity to present its own proposals in December.
Mehta has scheduled a trial on the proposals for April, although President-elect Donald Trump and the Justice Department’s next antitrust chief could intervene and change the course of the case.