Technologies
US Wants Judge to Break Up Google, Force Sale of Chrome: Here’s What to Know
OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Yahoo have expressed interest in buying Chrome, as Google’s legal battle escalates. Here’s what it could mean for the future of the web.
The US Department of Justice and Google are facing off in court over allegations that company is illegally maintaining its dominance in the search engine market. As a result, the DOJ is advocating for Google to sell off some of its key assets, including its Chrome browser. The hearings began April 22 and are expected to last three weeks.
This proposal has attracted interest from several tech companies, including OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Yahoo, all expressing willingness to purchase Chrome should the court mandate its sale.
The case could change how tech companies do business, as well as how people find answers to their online search queries. Government lawyers made their case in opening statements Monday, saying that Google should be forced to sell Chrome, its web browser, which pushes people to the Google search engine.
The company should also be forced to help rival search engines that it has unfairly kept out of competition, Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist said.
“This is the time for the court to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws,” Dahlquist said, according to The New York Times.
Google counters
Google’s lawyers say that any remedies should only consider the company’s deals with companies such as Apple, Mozilla and Samsung to make it the default search engine for smartphones and other devices.
“Google won its place in the market fair and square,” said company attorney John Schmidtlein, according to NBC News.
Judge Amit P. Mehta, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, is now hearing arguments and executives from major tech and artificial intelligence companies have been testifying.Â
Mehta is the same judge who ruled in August that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in search. That trial, held last year, took 10 weeks and was years in the making.
“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in the August decision. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
After Mehta hears arguments, he’s expected to order remedies by the end of summer.
Google is currently the king of online search, with more than 89% global market share, according to GlobalStats, down slightly from 91% last summer.
A representative for Google referred CNET to the company’s online statement from before the hearings began. In it, company vice president Lee-Anne Mulholland says such sweeping remedies would harm America’s economy.
Mulholland calls the action “a backwards-looking case” and says the DOJ proposal would make it harder for users to get to preferred services, would prevent the company from competing fairly and would force Google to share users’ private search queries with other companies.
OpenAI, Perplexity and Yahoo want to buy Chrome
On Tuesday, OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified that his company would be interested in buying the Google Chrome browser if the company is forced to sell it.Â
He also said that ChatGPT, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot, is “years away from its goal of being able to use its own search technology to answer 80% of queries,” according to Reuters. Turley also testified that Google declined an attempt by OpenAI to use Google search technology within ChatGPT.
Two other companies have also expressed interesting in buying Chrome — Perplexity AI and Yahoo.Â
Perplexity’s chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, expressed interest in purchasing Chrome in court.Â
Yahoo’s general manager of search, Brian Provost, also testified that the company is interested in acquiring Chrome. Yahoo has been developing its own browser prototype but believes that purchasing Chrome is a faster route to increasing its search market share, according to The Verge.
Potential outcomes
Many things could happen to Google, including a breakup of the company. If such a penalty were instituted, it might involve breaking off the Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system parts of the company.Â
The DOJ wants to prohibit Google from entering into exclusive agreements that makes its search engine as the default on devices and browsers. The Department of Justice also wants Google to share certain user data with competitors to level the playing field.
This would be the government’s first attempt to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since its unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft two decades ago.
Google could also be forced to make its data available to competitors or abandon the controversial economic deals that made the Google search engine the default on devices such as the iPhone.
Why does this matter?
Google is not the only company facing legal issues. Major tech companies Apple and Amazon are also facing antitrust lawsuits. An antitrust trial against Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, began April 14.
The trial could also affect the burgeoning artificial intelligence era. The Justice Department has said that if remedies are not imposed on Google, it expects Google to use its AI products to further extend its monopoly.
And since the August trial, presidential administrations have changed. As the Times notes, the hearings signal that the Trump administration intends to keep an eye on the changing tech industry.
Do people switch from default search engines?
The August case focused on Google paying Apple and other companies to make its search engine the default on devices such as Apple’s iPhone. Google has said it didn’t maintain a monopoly through such agreements and that consumers could change their device defaults to use other search engines.Â
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in October that the idea that people shift from one search engine to another is “completely bogus” and added “defaults is the only thing that matters in changing search behavior.”
According to the Justice Department, the Google search engine is used for nearly 90% of web searches, but the company disputes that number, the Times reports.
The Sherman Antitrust Act, which dates to 1890, prohibits activities restricting interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace, essentially outlawing corporate monopolies. It’s the cornerstone of US antitrust legislation, leading to the federal government’s breakup of late 19th century Gilded Age industrial giants.
CNET’s Imad Khan contributed to this report.
Technologies
Verum Exchange Launches a $10 Bonus for Online Mining of Verum Coin and Bitcoin
Verum Exchange Launches a $10 Bonus for Online Mining of Verum Coin and Bitcoin
Verum Exchange is expanding its online mining capabilities, allowing users to earn a $10 bonus while continuing to mine cryptocurrency directly from their smartphones. The feature is available not only in the currency converter app but also within Verum Messenger.
Online mining has long been part of the Verum ecosystem. Now, the company has added a new incentive to the existing feature â a bonus for participating in online mining.
The concept of online mining is changing the traditional perception of cryptocurrency mining. Users do not need to set up specialized mining equipment at home or deal with complex technical configurations. The feature can be accessed directly through the Verum digital ecosystem.
Verum Exchange: https://exchange.verum.im
Verum Messenger: https://ios.verum.im
Technologies
Supreme Court permits certain Trump mail-in voting restrictions before midterm elections
The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from implementing new restrictions on mail-in voting, allowing the administration to proceed with its plan to impose new requirements on states ahead of the midterm elections.
The Supreme Court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump for now in his effort to impose sweeping new restrictions on distributing mail ballots, putting on hold a lower-court ruling that had blocked key parts of the plan ahead of Novemberâs midterm elections.
The justices, over three dissents, paused a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out portions of a March executive order involving the U.S. Postal Service and voter eligibility lists. The courtâs three liberal justices dissented.
But the decision does not immediately allow the Postal Service to put its new mail-ballot system into effect.
A separate nationwide injunction issued Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston still blocks USPS from implementing the new procedures for the Nov. 3 elections. The administration would have to overcome that order as well.
The distinction was central to the Supreme Courtâs decision.
The majority said Trumpâs executive order itself does not require states to change how they conduct elections. Instead, it directs federal agencies to develop policies that could later impose requirements on states. Because those policies had not yet been implemented when 23 states and Washington, D.C., challenged the order, the court said the challenge was premature.
The justices stressed they were not deciding whether Trumpâs order or the policies developed under it are ultimately legal.
âThe Courtâs disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,â the majority wrote. âOn that score, time will tell.â
The Postal Service last week finalized rules intended to carry out part of Trumpâs order, including new requirements involving ballot envelopes, barcodes and information states must provide USPS. Those rules remain blocked by Talwaniâs separate injunction.
The case now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the underlying legal fight continues. Some states have already started preparing to send ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.
Technologies
Trump targets Iranâs trade lifelines â here are the countries most exposed
Washington’s threat of “economic D-Day” collides with a small group of governments that account for most of what remains of Iran’s foreign trade.
The U.S. announced an âeconomic D-Dayâ campaign Monday to isolate Iran from the global economy, threatening penalties against âenablersâ that continue doing business with Tehran.
The move is part of Washingtonâs bid to sever the trade lifeline that has sustained Tehranâs economy through nearly six months of war.
While enforcement details are sketchy, the threat could still put the U.S. on a collision course with some of Tehranâs major trade partners.
China
China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and serves as a crucial link to the global economy for Tehran, accounting for about 90% of its oil exports, according to the U.S. government.
China reported $9.96 billion in bilateral trade with Iran in 2025, excluding the roughly $31.2 billion in unreported Iranian crude oil exports to China that year, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Independent Chinese refiners take in the bulk of it, often rebranded as Malaysian or Indonesian crude and settled through intermediaries outside the dollar system, according to Kpler. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned several of those refineries this year for Iranian oil purchases, while sparing Chinese financial institutions.
Beijing has openly opposed U.S. sanctions against Iran, arguing that economic pressure will not resolve the disputes. In May, China ordered domestic firms to disregard U.S. sanctions on five refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade.
While Beijing is unlikely to push back directly on Washingtonâs sanctions push, it will âquietly step up complianceâ among state banks and oil companies to avoid getting caught in the net, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group, pointing to âa dichotomy between the official statement and the private practice.â
âChinese authorities care more about dollar access in financing and market entry to the U.S.,â she said.
United Arab Emirates
The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has long been a major trading hub for Iran.
The bilateral trade amounted to around $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was its largest source of imports, contributing over 30%, according to the World Trade Organization data. The UAE was also Iranâs third-largest export destination, making up 12% of its shipments, totaling more than $7 billion.
That relationship hit a snag last week as the UAE moved to suspend all trade and financial transactions with Iran, following two ballistic missiles fired toward Emirati territory, one of which targeted UAE-owned tankers.
Iran has relied on UAE banks and its financial system to access the world economy through illicit, often murky transactions, and cutting off Iran would require more forceful actions from Emirati authorities to crack down on opaque financial and trading activity, according to U.S.-based think tank The Washington Institute.
âThe majority of Iranâs transshipment, smuggling, and shadow banking activity takes place in Dubai, so Washington must do what it can to help the UAEâs national leaders in Abu Dhabi convince and cajole Dubaiâs leaders to play ball,â Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official, wrote in a note on Monday.
Turkey
Turkey maintains significant commercial ties with Tehran, importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods south.
The Turkey-Iran bilateral trade reached $5.7 billion in 2024, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Ankara exporting mostly machinery and parts, chemical and agricultural products, while importing energy products from Tehran.
Meanwhile, under a 25-year gas supply contract between the two countries that expired at the end of July, Turkeyâs imports of Iranian gas spiked this year while Iranâs share of Turkeyâs total natural gas imports rose to 18.6%, according to local media.
While Ankara has sought to diversify toward other suppliers, expanding pipeline imports from Azerbaijan and Russia, it has, so far, not signaled that it intends to cut Iran off.
Iraq
Iraq, dependent on Iranian electricity and gas, has historically traded billions with Tehran.
Iran renewed a five-year contract in March 2024 to supply Iraq with up to nearly 660 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, and electricity imports from Iran accounted for more than 30% of its electricity generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Iraq-Iran trade reached more than $10 billion in 2025, according to Reuters, with Tehran exporting food, consumer goods and other products to the Iraqi market. The trade has dwindled this year amid increased security risks in the region and intermittent disruptions along border crossings since the war started in late February.
Iraq reportedly pays Iran around $4 billion to $5 billion a year for natural gas for electricity generation. The fresh U.S. sanctions could curtail Baghdadâs payments for Iranian energy.
India
India, among Iranâs top five trading partners, has seen its bilateral trade with Iran fall in recent years to around $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2026, according to Indiaâs Department of Commerce, down from $2.3 billion in the year through to March 2023.
New Delhi primarily exports rice, tea, sugar and pharmaceuticals to Iran, and imports dry and fresh fruits from Iran.
In April, India resumed importing crude oil from Iran following a seven-year halt, after the U.S. temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian crude exports.
But those trades now will be tested if Washington makes good on its threat to sanction any entity, including Indian refiners, that have procured Iranian energy.
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