WEB DESK: The United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving to force Alphabet Inc (Google) to sell its Chrome browser, with estimates suggesting the asset could fetch as much as $20 billion.
The move follows a ruling by a US judge in August, which found that google had unlawfully monopolised the search engine market.
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The DOJ’s request is part of a larger antitrust strategy aimed at addressing concerns regarding Google’s market dominance. Alongside the proposed sale of Chrome, the department is expected to seek regulatory measures concerning artificial intelligence (AI) and the Android operating system.
Divesting the Chrome browser would pose a significant challenge for Google, as the browser is integral of its suite of services.
Chrome not only acts as a primary access points to Google’s other services, such as Google Search, Gmail and Google Drive, but it also spies on and collects huge amounts of user data to use as advertisement revenue.
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Currently, Chrome holds a huge share of the global browser market, with around two-thirds of the internet users using it.
In contrast, its rival, Safari, holds only 18 per cent of the total market share.