The American government sues Google to sell its Chrome browser

The application of this decision remains uncertain. The web giant denounces the hypothesis of dismantling as “radical”. Furthermore, the intentions of the future Trump administration on this subject remain to be clarified.

The American government asked the courts on Wednesday, November 21, to order Google to sell its Chrome browser, a sanction that would be historic for the technology giant already under fire for its anti-competitive practices. If the intentions of the future Donald Trump government on this subject remain unknown, this request marks a profound change on the part of the American competition authorities who have essentially left the technology giants alone since their failure to dismantle Microsoft around twenty years ago. of years.

In a court document, the Ministry of Justice calls for a split of the activities of the subsidiary of the Alphabet group, also prohibiting Google from signing agreements with manufacturers to impose the default use of its search engine on smartphones. The authorities also want to prevent Google from taking advantage of its Android mobile operating system to promote its other products. They are even demanding that the technological giant sell Android for failure to propose developments in this direction.

Google was found guilty last summer of illegal practices to establish and maintain its monopoly in online search by Amit Mehta, a federal judge in Washington. The next step is now to decide on the penalty imposed on the company and therefore the responses to be made to its dominant position. After receiving the official request from the authorities on Wednesday, the judge is now awaiting Google's proposals next month before hearing both sides at a special hearing scheduled for April.

But the changes, if they take place, will undoubtedly take years, Google having planned to appeal and denouncing the hypothesis of a dismantling like “radical”. The case risks ending up in the hands of the Supreme Court and remains suspended until Donald Trump comes to power in January. The Republican billionaire will place a new team at the head of the competition authorities and has blown hot and cold about his intentions regarding the power of the technological giants.

He appointed Brendan Carr, who wants to lead the American telecoms regulator, the FCC, to lead “dismantle the censorship cartel” imposed according to him by the tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. But the president-elect also signaled that dismantling would be excessive.