The U.S. Justice Department and a group of states proposed major changes to Alphabet Inc.’s Google — including a forced sale of the company’s Chrome web browser — after a landmark ruling that the tech giant illegally monopolized online search.

In a court filing Wednesday, antitrust enforcers said Google must divest Chrome, citing the judge’s earlier ruling that the browser “fortified” the company’s dominance. The agency and states said that they would also prefer a divestiture of the Android smartphone operating system. But, recognizing that Google and others might oppose that, they instead proposed a series of limits on the business unit.

The government recommended the Chrome divestiture to “permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” according to the filing.

Bloomberg News earlier reported on the Justice Department’s intention to seek a Chrome sale. Google’s shares were down 5.5% at 10:14 a.m. in New York at $166.29.

Google said the DOJ’s proposal would harm Americans’ privacy and security, stymie Google’s investments in artificial intelligence and hurt companies like Mozilla, which depends on revenue Google pays to make its search engine the default option in the Firefox browser.

“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,” Kent Walker, the company’s chief legal officer, wrote in a statement on the company’s website.

The filing outlined a 10-year remedy proposal for US District Judge Amit Mehta, who will decide how to restore lost competition from Google’s illegal conduct following a hearing next spring. At the end of the process, the judge will order Google to make the changes to its business he determines are appropriate.

Apple Pay, tech firms come under CFPB regulatory oversight

The top U.S. consumer watchdog will supervise Apple Inc. and other major technology firms that offer digital wallets and payment apps, finalizing a proposal from last year with several changes.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will now treat those companies more like banks as long as they handle more than 50 million transactions a year, conducted in U.S. dollars, according to a statement Thursday. The original proposal set the supervision threshold at 5 million transaction a year. While the financial regulator can already take action against companies that break the law, the new rule would allow the CFPB to regularly supervise the large digital-wallet and payments firms and their practices.

“Digital payments have gone from novelty to necessity and our oversight must reflect this reality,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the statement.

More consumers are turning to digital wallets and payment apps to complete everyday transactions, and competition in the area has intensified, with Apple Pay leading the pack. Digital wallet use among U.S. consumers jumped to 62% last year from around 47% in 2022, according to Federal Reserve surveys.

American jobless claims fall, remain near seven-month low

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell again last week, remaining near seven-month lows.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claim applications fell by 6,000 to 213,000 for the week of Nov. 16. That’s fewer than the 220,000 analysts forecast.

However, continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 36,000 to 1.91 million for the week of Nov. 9. That was higher than expected and the most in three years.

While the number of new people applying for jobless aid each week remains at historically healthy levels, some who are receiving benefits are finding it harder to land new jobs. That suggests that demand for workers is waning, even as the economy remains strong.

The four-week average of weekly claims, which quiets some of the weekly volatility, fell by 3,750 to 217,750.

Compiled from Bloomberg and Associated Press reports.