Google is battling severe pressure as the US Department of Justice (DOJ has ordered it to sell Chrome, the most widely used web browser in the world.
In a court filing late on Wednesday, the DOJ offered a number of remedies, including this one, to prevent the internet giant from continuing to control the online search market.
Additionally, government attorneys suggested that District Judge Amit Mehta order the firm to cease signing agreements with businesses, such as Apple and Samsung, that set its search engine as the default on a large number of devices and web browsers.
Judge Mehta’s historic anti-competition decision from August, which concluded Google unlawfully suppressed its rivals in online search, is the basis for the suggested remedies.
The Department of Justice was joined in the filing by a group of US states that argued the changes will help to open up a monopolised market.
“Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled,” the government lawyers wrote.
In response, Google said that with its proposals, the DOJ “chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”
“[The] DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision,” said Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google.
“It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.”
Google is expected to counter with its own proposed remedies by 20 December.
By the summer of 2025, Judge Mehta is expected to render a ruling. Approximately 90% of all online searches worldwide are conducted through Google, according to web traffic research tool Statcounter.