Ecosia has offered to take ‘stewardship’ of Chrome. And it’s not a bad idea.

Over the past year, Google, the online search giant, has been in the spotlight countless times. In August 2024, the company was accused of acting illegally to maintain its monopoly in the online browsing sector, violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act. More specifically, the latter declares illegal the monopolization of any part of commerce or trade.

Following the accusation brought by the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice proposed a solution that would force Google to sell Chrome, separating it from the search engine. The accused company, of course, refused to take this direction. Nevertheless, since last summer, several companies have “lined up” to buy Chrome, including OpenAI and Perplexity.

Ecosia, the search engine “that plants trees,” on the other hand, has offered to acquire Chrome completely free of charge, without making a financial proposal. The move may seem ridiculous, but the reasoning behind it may be more sensible than expected.