US DOJ Plans to Push Google to Sell Chrome, According to Reports

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to ask a judge to consider pushing Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) to divest its Chrome browser, according to reports Tuesday, as the Biden administration’s top antitrust officials cracks down on the tech industry a few months before leaving office.

The reports come a month after the DOJ submitted a filing giving a federal court a framework for restructuring Google, including breaking up the tech giant for an illegal monopoly over search.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a court filing is due by the DOJ Wednesday asking the judge to get Google to divest its Chrome browser or Android mobile operating system if the Alphabet unit “doesn’t limit how it ties its ubiquitous mobile products to the use of its search engine.” 

The report said the Justice Department is also seeking an end to Google’s payment of billions of dollars a year to partners like iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) to make Google’s search engine the default on web browsers.

Judge Amit Mehta Had Ruled in August that Google Had an Illegal Search Monopoly

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the Justice Department will ask federal judge Amit Mehta to require measures linked to Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) and its Android smartphone operating system. Antitrust officials and some states are planning to recommend Wednesday that Mehta impose data licensing requirements, the report said.

Mehta in August ruled that Google had illegally monopolized the search market, which the tech giant said it would appeal.

Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the “DOJ continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”

“The government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed,” she said in a statement to Investopedia.

The Justice Department couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Alphabet shares are down 0.6% in premarket trading but are up by more than a quarter through Monday this year.