The Washington, DC court hearing is scheduled in April. District Judge Anil Mehta wants to pronounce the final verdict before Labor Day. If the government’s recommendations are accepted, Google will have to sell the 16-year-old Chrome browser within six months of the final verdict and its $300 billion empire will end.
After US District Judge Amit Mehta declared Google a monopolist in August, the Biden administration on Wednesday filed a 23-page document in court suggesting broad points for punishment. US regulators have also suggested preventing Google from re-entering the browser market for five years. It also said that if these measures do not end the monopoly and restore competition, Google may also be asked to sell its Android mobile operating system.
Lawyers said Google should be asked to sell Chrome to a buyer approved by the US government. The sale of Chrome will permanently stop Google’s control over important search access points. This will give rival search engines a chance to access the browser. Similarly, Google can also be asked to sell Android to a government-approved buyer. If Google wants to retain control over Android but does not follow the measures, the government can approach the court for an order to sell Android.
The US regulator said that Google should be banned from owning any browser for five years after the sale of Chrome. It should also be barred from making any investment in any search or search text advertising rival, search distributor, or rival query-based AI product or advertising technology.
The penalty recommendations said that Google should also be banned from contracting with any third party to make Google the default search engine in its product. Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple due to such agreements. These should be stopped immediately.
The government has also recommended to stop Google from entering into a contract with any publisher to license data. This agreement gives Google exclusivity for the publisher’s content. Google should also be barred from using any property it owns or operates to promote its search engine, search text ads, or AI products.
