In a proposal that could radically alter the internet, the Justice Department is seeking to break up Google -- by forcing it to divest the popular Chrome browser -- as a way to end its monopoly on search.

The DOJ's request comes after a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in August found that Google was a monopoly and that the internet giant broke the law by inking multibillion-dollar deals to make its search engine the default on web browsers and smartphones including devices from Apple and Samsung.

"Google must divest Chrome, which has 'fortified [Google's] dominance'... so that rivals may pursue distribution partnerships that this 'realit[y] of control'... today prevents," the DOJ said in the filing Wednesday, citing the decision of Judge Amit Mehta.

"The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the DOJ said. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."

A copy of the DOJ's filing is available at this link.

In response, Google said the government's "staggering proposal would hurt consumers and America's global technological leadership."

The DOJ "chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America's global technology leadership," Kent Walker, president, global affairs and chief legal officer for Google and Alphabet, wrote in a blog post. DOJ's wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision. It would break a range of Google products -- even beyond Search -- that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."

Among other things, Walker claimed, the breakup proposal would "require disclosure to unknown foreign and domestic companies of not just Google's innovations and results, but even more troublingly, Americans' personal search queries." He also claimed it would "chill our investment in artificial intelligence, perhaps the most important innovation of our time, where Google plays a leading role."

In its proposed final judgment, the DOJ said "The most straightforward solution -- the first option -- would be to [require Google to] divest Android, which would prevent Google from using Android to exclude rival search providers." But the government said it recognized that "such divestiture may draw significant objections from Google or other market participants."

As an alternative to the divestiture of Android, the DOJ -- joined by a group of state Attorneys General in the case -- "have presented behavioral remedies that would blunt Google's ability to use its control of the Android ecosystem to favor its general search services and search text ad monopolies as well as limit Google's ability to discriminate in favor of its own search and ads businesses." That option would require "vigilance and oversight" by the court and the government -- if this path didn't result in "meaningful relief in these critical markets," the court could require Google to divest Android, the filing states.

Judge Mehta will rule on the remedy in the case after a two week trial scheduled for April 2025.