The US Department of Justice finally filed court documents last night proposing that Google divest itself of Chrome – the most popular browser in the world, by far.

THE proposed judgment (PDF)which landed Wednesday evening, aims to end Google’s supposed monopoly on search. In addition to forcing the ad distributor to sell its Chrome browser, it prohibits Google from paying to make its search engine the default for third parties, causing difficulties not only for Alphabet but for others. ‘others.

Google pays billions every year to Apple and Mozilla to remain the default search engine in Safari and Firefox. As The Reg has already suggested: “If these disappear, there will be blood – not just for Google but also for Apple and Mozilla.”

The proposal also states that publishers should be able to opt out of AI previews without fear of retaliation.

To clarify the intent, the DoJ’s proposals begin as follows: “The objectives of the following remedies are to free monopolized markets from Google’s exclusionary practices, to open monopolized markets to competition, to remove barriers to entry and to ensure that no practices likely to harm competition persist. lead to illegal monopolization.

The words “Google must quickly and completely divest Chrome” are certainly catchy, and the filing further prohibits Google from releasing another browser while the ruling is pending. But the case is vast and, if the ruling goes the DoJ’s way, it could choke off revenue streams that others depend on. In his last financial statement (PDF)Mozilla gave a figure of $510 million in royalties out of total revenue of $594 million for 2022. Search engine providers pay these royalties as either the default or an option in Firefox. Losing payments from Google would represent a significant financial hit for Mozilla.

Apple was explicitly named in the filing and could lose between 18 and 20 billion dollars should we prohibit Google from paying to make its search engine the default. In the remedies proposed deposit Submitted simultaneously (PDF), the attorneys general cited Judge Mehta’s earlier opinion, which said: “Apple, a fierce potential competitor, remains on the sidelines because of the large revenue shares it receives from Google.”

The proposal also prohibits Google from preferring its own products and services and punishing publishers for using a proposed opt-out mechanism to prevent the ad launcher from scraping content to train AI models and provide previews. Access to user-side data must be provided to “qualified competitors” and the company must allow these competitors to submit queries and use the results as they see fit.

Other proposals include opening Google’s advertising business to competition and introducing choice screens. The sale of Android, its mobile operating system, is not an obligation… for the moment. The DoJ also suggested that if Google didn’t do what it wanted, it might be forced to dump Android.

Legal experts have said they don’t believe in a forced sale of Android or Chrome, although some have suggested search revenue deals with Apple and Mozilla could take a hit.

To be clear, these are proposals that will be considered by Justice Amit Mehta, who is unlikely to issue his judgment before the end of 2025. And even after this decision, it would be difficult to imagine a scenario in which the losing party would not file a complaint. a call.

Google has, unsurprisingly, come out swinging and described the proposed remedies as “a radical interventionist program that would harm Americans and their global technological leadership.”

“It would break a line of Google products – even beyond search – that people love and find useful in their daily lives.”

Google argued that the proposals would jeopardize user security and privacy and “deliberately hinder people’s ability to access Google Search.” He also warned against potentially making data available to U.S. and foreign companies, micromanaging Google search and other technologies, and cooling the company’s investments in AI.

The company also indicated it was still early in the process and said it would table its own proposals in December. ®