US government wants to snatch Chrome browser from Google

According to a media report, the US government is seeking a court order to force Google to abandon Chrome, the world’s most widely used web browser.

The Ministry of Justice intends to propose the measure in the competition case against Google in Washington, wrote the financial service Bloomberg, citing informed persons. The judge had already ruled in the proceedings in August that Google had a monopoly in Internet search and was defending it against competition by unfair means. Now it’s all about the consequences.

Among other things, the Ministry of Justice also wants to demand that Google be obliged to grant competitors access to some data and make it easier for websites to object to the use of their information to train artificial intelligence. A decision by the judge on the measures is not due until next year.

Chrome is the most widely used browser for surfing the web with a market share of around 60 percent in the USA and around two thirds worldwide. According to the report, one argument put forward by the competition authorities could be that many users access Google’s search engine via Chrome. However, Bloomberg wrote that considerations to demand Google’s separation from the Android smartphone system had been dropped.

dpa