this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
380 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

67151 readers
4154 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The U.S. Department of Justice is ramping up its case against Google's alleged monopoly, suggesting the government could eventually force the company to sell its widely-used Chrome browser. The move is part of the DoJ's push to challenge Google's hold over the digital advertising and search engine markets.

The Justice Department's latest legal action accuses Google of engaging in anticompetitive behavior by unfairly using its dominance in search and advertising to prop up its other services, most notably Chrome. The government argues that Google's browser and vast data ecosystem have given the company an outsized advantage over competitors, stifling innovation and harming consumers. By bundling Chrome with its Android operating system, Google has built an extensive network that could limit consumer choice and make it difficult for smaller firms to compete.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 23 hours ago

requiring Google (and Facebook) to spin off their ad network businesses

That is their business. Everything else exists to bring more value to that business:

  • AOSP - ads in the browser (search engine) and app store
  • Chrome - ads in the search engine, and nudge people toward other Google products to hoover up data to serve more ads

And so on. Google and Meta are ad companies that drive traffic to their ads through software services.

The point in forcing them out of certain businesses is to open them up to more competition. They can keep ad margins high due to sheer volume of eyeballs coming from their other services. Gutting those services means they need to provide better value to stay competitive.

Idk if it'll work, but stripping out the browser is likely good overall for the open web.