Pressure is mounting on Google in the United States. The Department of Justice has reiterated its demand for the sale of Chrome. It was stated that the company can continue with its investments in artificial intelligence after being informed in advance.

In the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has once again voiced the demand for Google to divest Chrome browser. The Department of Justice had first suggested that Google must sell Chrome last year during the Joe Biden administration. The Department remained loyal to this plan during the second Trump administration as well. DOJ announced that it has not changed the fundamental components of the initial proposal, which include divesting Chrome and banning payments related to search to distribution partners. There were concerns about Google using its significant capital to gain influence in artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, the proposal did not call for Google to divest its investments in the field of artificial intelligence, including the billions of dollars invested in Anthropic. It was stated that prior information about artificial intelligence investments would be sufficient. Google, on the other hand, finds DOJ’s recommendations excessive and opposes them. Google holds about 90% of the online search market.

GOOGLE FACES ANTITRUST LAWSUIT In a statement made by the Department of Justice on January 24, 2023, it was reported that Virginia Eastern District Court filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google with the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia states. The statement pointed out that Google monopolized numerous digital advertising technology products, accusing the company of using anti-competitive, exclusionary, and illegal methods to eliminate or significantly reduce any threats to its dominance in the industry. The statement described how Google had rendered advertising technology competitors ineffective or eliminated them through acquisitions in the past 15 years, and how the company used its dominance in the digital advertising market to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products, obstructing the use of rival products. It was mentioned that in this way, Google strengthened its dominance in the industry, and the statement also detailed the nature of the company’s anti-competitive behavior. The Department of Justice had previously filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020 for monopolizing search and search advertising.