US Justice Department files proposed final judgement in Google anti-monopoly case asking for divesture of Chrome and even Android

The US Government filed a final proposal on November 20, 2024, in the Google anti-monopoly case led by the US Justice Department asking for the district judge to force Google to divest Chrome, and even Android in order to stop the monopoly Google has over the search engine market.

This filing comes after the August 5, 2024, decision by the district judge that Google has indeed acted as a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which is a US Federal law that prohibits such unfair monopolies so that free competition can exist.

Among the proposed actions, Google will sell off the Chrome web browser, which has become the dominant web browser used today. Without Chrome funneling search results and user data directly into Google search by default, Chrome and other web browsers can default to user-selected search engines. Google will not be allowed to default other products to Google search, and a fund will be set up to educate Americans on this case and their search engine choices.

Google must open up its search engine data to third parties at a marginal cost, and its user and advertisement data for free for ten years to promote a level playing field in the search engine marketplace. Users advertising on Google will also receive more detailed data on ad performance and costs, and greater keyword matching controls. Google cannot pay other companies for preferential use of its search engine, such as the millions paid to Apple to default to the use of the Google search engine on its iPhones.

Should these actions be insufficient, the filing even proposes forcing Google to divest itself of Android, which has become a major source of user data and Google searches due to the large base of users.

Federal anti-monopoly cases can take years, even decades, with accompanying appeals, but the judge expects to finalize his decision in 2025.