Browser startups take aim at Google Chrome, Apple Safari

The Chrome browser hosts almost two-thirds of Internet activity worldwide and is an important driver of traffic to Google’s lucrative search engine. — dpa

Web browsers were at the centre of the first major antitrust case challenging the power of big tech companies more than two decades ago. Now a new generation of regulators and rivals are again questioning whether the gateways to the Internet are too tightly controlled.

Back then, in the 1990s, the target was Microsoft Corp. Today, it is Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc, which together control more than 80% of the market through their Chrome and Safari browsers, respectively.