The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to force Google to sell off its popular

web browser Chrome.

It comes after an antitrust case found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in search.

The outcome could have a major impact on the company and on the way so many of us interact

with the internet.

William Brangham has the details.

Omna, Chrome is worth an estimated $20 billion,

and it is a central part of Google's business model.

So the implications here could be enormous.

In a filing late yesterday, the government also asked

to judge to force Google to divest

from its Android mobile operating system. It also wants

the company to stop paying phone makers like Apple to keep Google search the default on their devices.

Google, for its part, called the DOJ's approach unprecedented government overreach and said it would, quote,

break a range of Google products

that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives. So to help us understand this move,

we are joined again by NPR technology correspondent Bobby Allen. Bobby Allen, so good to have you

back on the program. What is the Department of Justice's argument here?

Why are they saying Google, you've got to carve Chrome away from your company?

The Department of Justice is saying that Google just has too much power. Justice lawyers say a way

to sort of push back on that power is to have another company come in and buy Chrome,

which is a web browser that has two-thirds of the market globally for browsing the internet.

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