Nov. 21 (UPI) — The Justice Department asked a judge to force tech giant Google to break off its Chrome web browser in what is seen as one of the harshest antitrust penalties ever leveled against a U.S.-based business since the tech boom.
The department said Wednesday that Google, the king of online search for decades, is running an illegal monopoly because of its tight integration with Chrome, now one of the country’s premiere web browsers.
“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the Justice Department said in its court document. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.
“Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled.”
The Justice Department said restoring competition must include encouraging the development of an “unfettered search ecosystem” that promotes innovation and creates opportunities for competition.
The department told U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that Google’s current exclusivity contracts with Apple, Samsung, and others, which make Google the default search engine on their devices, should be outlawed for antitrust concerns.
Banning those agreements alone could cost Google billions in revenue.
In October, the Justice Department considered breaking up Google beyond Chrome to also include Google Play and its Android divisions.
A federal judge ruled in August that Google holds an illegal monopoly in the search market, resulting from a 2020 lawsuit. That ruling set up Wednesday’s ask from the Justice Department. Google said it is in the process of appealing the monopoly running.