U.S. Justice Department asks court to 'forced Google Chrome sale'

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the court to order the forced sale of Google's web browser Chrome.

The New York Times reported on the 20th local time that the Justice Department had filed the measure in federal court in Washington, D.C., where Google's anti-trust lawsuit is underway.

Earlier, a federal court ruled that Google illegally maintains a monopoly in the online search market and demanded that the Justice Department and other plaintiffs come up with a plan to resolve Google's monopoly by this day and submit it.

In addition to the Chrome sale, the Justice Department said the monopoly issue of Android, Google's smartphone operating system, should also be addressed.

They say Google should stop the practice of selling Android or installing Chrome as its default browser on smartphones.

At the same time, he suggested that Google pay for smartphone manufacturers such as Apple to ban the installation of Chrome as a basic browser for smartphones.

The Justice Department has asked the court to allow the government to force the sale of Android if Google's monopoly in the smartphone search market does not improve.

In order to promote competition in the search market, he also requested that Google make it mandatory to share search data with competitors.

The defendant Google will submit its own monopoly resolution plan to the court by the 20th of next month.

The court is expected to review the plan submitted by the plaintiff and the defendant from next spring, and decide on specific measures to resolve the monopoly around August next year.

If the court accepts the Justice Department's request, Google is likely to take a significant toll on its search business.

Chrome, which Google put on the market in 2008, currently holds a 67% share in the global market.

However, even if the decision is made that the Ministry of Justice wants, the sale of Chrome will not take place immediately.

Google has already announced its appeal, and a lengthy court battle is expected to continue.In 1998, during the Bill Clinton administration

The Justice Department ordered a division of the company in a case against Microsoft (MS), but the first trial was overturned on appeal.

In addition, the possibility of the Justice Department's position changing after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January next year cannot be ruled out."The Department of Justice is pursuing radical goals that are beyond its legal reach in this lawsuit," said Leigh Ann Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs at Google,
. "Government interference will harm not only consumers and developers, but also U.S. dominance in technology."