The U.S. Department of Justice is changing its stance while maintaining the framework of the claim about the 'sale of Chrome' regarding the Google antitrust lawsuit in the online search market. Notably, it appears to have relaxed some of the existing sanctions regarding Google's artificial intelligence (AI) investments.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters on the 8th (local time), the U.S. Department of Justice submitted a revised monopoly remedy to the federal court in Washington, D.C., where Google's antitrust lawsuit is ongoing.
Earlier, in August of last year, the federal court ruled that Google was illegally maintaining a monopoly in the online search market.
In response, in November of the same year, the Department of Justice submitted a monopoly remedy plan for Google, which included the forced sale of Chrome; this time, a revised proposal has been submitted.
The new plan includes some relaxed provisions compared to before.
The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its previous claim that Google must restrict investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups such as Anthropic.
Initially, the Department of Justice argued that Google could utilize AI development to strengthen its monopoly in the search market, claiming that investments and acquisition activities related to AI should be restricted.
So far, Google has invested $300,000 (about 430 million won) in Anthropic.
However, in this revised proposal, the U.S. Department of Justice did not impose restrictions on Google's AI investments. Instead, it relaxed the requirement to notify the authorities before proceeding with investments in AI startups.
The Department of Justice also allowed Google to pay expenses to Apple for services unrelated to search.
Earlier in this lawsuit process, it was revealed that Google has been paying Apple and others billions of dollars annually in exchange for having its web browser, Chrome, installed as the default browser on devices like the iPhone.
The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that these expenses were aimed at strengthening Google's search capabilities, arguing that payments to smartphone manufacturers like Apple should be prohibited. However, it has relaxed this by allowing payments for services unrelated to search.
Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Justice has maintained the original framework of Google's online market monopoly remedy regarding the forced sale of Chrome.
The Department of Justice referred to Google as an 'economic giant' and noted that it 'deprived American consumers of basic values in market choice.'
The Department of Justice argued that 'Google must sell the Chrome browser and provide new competitors with the opportunity to operate an important gateway to internet search.'
Google executives previously met with U.S. government officials to request that the push for corporate partitioning, including the sale of Chrome, be withdrawn due to its negative impact on national security and the economy, but the request was not accepted.