The US government wants to force Google to sell its Chrome browser

Thursday 21st November 2024 09:09 AM

Concurrence –

Washington wants to force Google to sell its Chrome browser

The US government asked the courts on Wednesday to order Google to sell its Chrome browser. A sanction that would be historic.

Posted today at 6:08 a.m. Updated 8 hours ago

The authorities also want to prevent Google from taking advantage of its Android mobile operating system to promote its other products.

AFP

Subscribe now and enjoy the audio playback feature.

BotTalk

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.

Anticompetitive practices

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 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.

The ministry wants Google to divest itself of Chrome, the world’s most widely used internet browser, because it is a major access point to the search engine, undermining the chances of potential competitors.

According to the StatCounter website, in September Google accounted for 90% of the global online search market and even 94% on smartphones.

Newsletter

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “24 Heures” offers you two appointments per day, directly in your email box. So you don’t miss anything that’s happening in your Canton, in Switzerland or around the world.