Bloomberg: The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing Google to sell Chrome

In a sale of the “” press top U.S. Department of Justice officials to “break” its monopoly on online searches. Specifically, the ministry intends to ask the competent judge, Amit Meta (Amit Mehta), to order Google’s secession from “Chrome” in the context of the current antitrust process, according to a Bloomberg report. In addition to selling the popular internet browser, further measures will be taken on Google’s Android smartphone operating system and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The loss of Chrome would be a major blow to the company, since software dominates the internet browser market with a 61% stake and is a central element of Google’s core activity, which is the sale of advertisements online. As the company can collect more data for its users with the help of Chrome, online ads can appear in a much more targeted and therefore more effective way. At the same time, Chrome himself acts as a promotional tool to attract new customers to Google’s artificial intelligence services (Gemini) and email (gmail) services. This decision to sell Chrome came from a case of antitrust legislation initiated by the first government of future US President Donald Trump. It is regarded as the “trial of the decade”, because, for the first time in over 20 years, the US government accuses a company of illegal abuse of its market power and requires corresponding harsh consequences. District judge Meta considers Google had an illegal monopoly on online searches and related advertising, as quoted in a press release. “Google is a monopoly and has acted as such to maintain its monopoly,” wrote the judge. For example, Meta cited payments to smartphone manufacturers, such as Apple, with which Google ensures that its own search engine is defined as a default option on devices. According to the court, the company reportedly spent $26 billion a year just for this measure. The final decision in 2025 A new hearing is scheduled for next April, before Meta issues the final decision in August 2025. Google had filed an appeal and had publicly refuted the court’s views. In a statement, Google Director Lee-Anne Mulholland accused the Ministry of Justice of following a “radical agenda” that harms consumers, but the ministry did not make any comment.