New Delhi: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued for Google to divest itself from the web browser Chrome, as well as potentially giving up its popular operating system Android, in court filings Wednesday.

These steps are a part of suggested remedies by the justice department against the American tech giant, following a court ruling in August that said it has a monopoly in the search engine market.

“Google’s ownership and control of Chrome and Android—key methods for the distribution of search engines to consumers—poses a significant challenge to effectuate a remedy that aims to ‘unfetter (these) market(s) from anticompetitive conduct’,” said the 23-page filing by the US Department of Justice.

The DOJ added: “In order to safeguard against the possibility of further foreclosure and exclusion of rivals and potential entrants including via self-preferencing, the PFJ [proposed final judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome.”

According to the DOJ, the “Chrome default” is a “market reality” that “significantly narrows the available channels of distribution” and therefore harms the emergence of new competitive products. The divestment of Chrome “will restore incentives to rivals and potential entrants to compete” in the search-engine space.

Apart from this, the DOJ has also argued that Google should be prevented from entering exclusive distribution agreements with companies such as Apple and Samsung for the use of its search engine as a default for their products.