U.S. Department of Justice Proposals for Google’s Divestment

• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed large-scale remedies to Google, including the possible divestment of Google’s Chrome and Android businesses.

• The DOJ argued for a mandatory sale of the Chrome browser, possible divestment of the Android mobile operating system, a five-year ban on entering the browser market, and a restriction on paying third parties like Apple to make Google the default search engine on their products.

• Google was asked to provide publishers and content creators with the ability to block their data from being used to train AI models.

• The DOJ suggested the formation of a ‘technical committee’ to monitor how Google is implementing the remedies.

• Google condemned the DOJ’s remedies as a “radical interventionist agenda” and feared it would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses.

• The DOJ’s proposals aim to break the chain of Google’s search browsers or apps, preventing Google from pushing its services as the go-to option for gadget users.

• Google was not on board with the proposal, stating that it would require the installation of two separate choice screens before users could access Google Search on a Pixel phone.

• The next steps are in U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s court, where the remedies will be evaluated next April.