US to Push Google to Sell Off Chrome Browser
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Top Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a federal judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser, in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world. The department is to ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require measures from Google-parent Alphabet related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system. Antitrust officials, along with states that have joined the case, also plan to recommend Wednesday that the court impose data licensing requirements. And in case you’re wondering, this move by the outgoing Biden administration might survive Donald Trump. The case was filed under the first Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden. It arguably marks the most aggressive effort to rein in a tech company since Washington unsuccessfully sought to break up Microsoft two decades ago.
Trump has made some big promises to both the ultrawealthy and the working class, and as is often the case, may find a hard time delivering on both. As a candidate, he promised something for everyone. Among the moves he pledged—all of which are up to Congress, not him—were to extend the 2017 tax cuts that largely benefitted corporations and the rich (price tag: $4.6 trillion); remove taxes on tipped wages for service workers ($250 billion); increase the child tax credit from $2,000 to $5,000 ($3 trillion); and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits ($1.8 trillion). But Republicans can’t possibly deliver all of this, or even most of it, despite having full control of Washington. Here’s why.