According to a court on Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice is still urging Google to sell its Chrome web browser.
DOJ was the first to suggest that Google would sell Chrome last year under then-President Joe Biden. However, the department does not ask the company to sell all the investments in the billions of artificial intelligence that Google has poured into humanity.
“Google’s illegal activities have created economic conduct. This is what wreaking havoc in the market to ensure that no matter what happens, whatever happens, you always win,” the DOJ said in a filing signed by current representative lawyer general Omeed Assefi. (Trump’s candidate, who will lead the antitrust for DOJ, is still waiting for confirmation.)
So DOJ said it had not changed the “core components” of its initial proposal, including a ban on selling Chrome or search-related payments to distribution partners.
With AI, DOJ says it does not seek “an essential sale of Google’s AI investments,” and will instead be satisfied with “advance notices for future investments.” He also said instead of giving Google the option to sell Android, he would leave future decisions to the courts, depending on whether the market becomes more competitive.
The proposal follows an antitrust lawsuit filed by the DOJ and the 38 state attorney generals, and Judge Amit P. Mehta has determined that Google has acted illegally to maintain its monopoly in online searches. Google has said it will appeal Mehta’s decision, but during that time it has provided alternative suggestions that it will address his concerns by providing more flexibility to its partners.
A Google spokesman told Reuters that the DOJ’s “sweep proposal will continue to surpass court decisions and will harm American consumers, the economy and national security.”
Mehta will be hearing discussions from both Google and DOJ in April.