Google antitrust case escalates again! Recently, the US Department of Justice has requested in court to not only divest its Chrome browser, but also to force Google to divest the Android operating system and limit Google's AI model training.

According to the Financial Times of the United Kingdom reported on the 21st, court documents submitted by the US Department of Justice on Thursday show that the Department of Justice believes that by divesting the Chrome browser and the Android operating system, it can effectively weaken Google's dominant position in the online search market.

If the proposal is ultimately accepted, Google will no longer have a browser and will not be able to re-enter the browser market in the next five years. At the same time, the Department of Justice also requires Google to divest investments in search engines, query-based AI products, and advertising technology within six months.

With the election of President Trump and the imminent reappointment of the new leadership of the Department of Justice, Google's antitrust case is entering a critical stage.

Department of Justice requests to limit Google's AI training content.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the US Department of Justice plans to compel Google to sell Chrome. The Department of Justice believes that divesting the Chrome browser will allow Google's competitors to compete for the market share they should have and break Google's long-standing monopoly in the search engine market.

Now the conflict between the two parties has escalated again. In addition to divesting the browser, the Department of Justice also requires Google to divest the Android system and limit the training content of its AI models.

The prosecutor stated in the document:

Due to Google's actions, the competitive environment is unfair, and Google's behavior reflects unjust gains obtained illegally. Remedial measures must bridge this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.

According to the proposal, Google must allow competitors to access its search index, users, and advertising data at 'marginal cost', while ensuring privacy protection.

This means that Google will no longer be able to monopolize a large amount of data resources crucial for AI training.

The Department of Justice also stated that Google should stop paying annual fees of billions of dollars to partners like Apple, to make its search engine the default option through contracts, which has become a core tactic for Google to dominate the search engine market.

In 2021, Google paid Apple over 20 billion US dollars, helping to secure its position as the default search engine in Apple's Safari browser.

Google strongly opposes, stating it will 'harm consumers and technological competitiveness'.

Google naturally refuses to back down, strongly objecting to the proposal, deeming the Department of Justice's demands 'shocking and overly aggressive'.

Google believes that separating the Chrome browser and the Android operating system would harm consumers because these products are currently free, and Google uses them as a "loss-leading tool" to promote its search engine and advertising business. In particular, no other company can invest enough funds to maintain the security and competitiveness of the browser.

In addition, Google also stated that this requirement may seriously impact its investments in the field of AI, thereby weakening its global technological leadership position.

Currently, the case is still under review, and Judge Amit Mehta is expected to make a decision on whether to accept these remedies by mid-2025. If the proposal is adopted, it will be a historic victory for the US antitrust department's crackdown on Google's antitrust practices.

However, with Trump about to assume the presidency of the United States, the future of the Justice Department's antitrust actions is also uncertain. If he appoints new leadership of the Justice Department, whether to continue such severe measures against Google will become a pending question. In addition, it is not yet clear whether the Trump administration will change the existing antitrust policies.