Most offices browse the Internet through Google Chrome. It is fast, free and familiar. But it helps to be clear about who makes it. In our view, Google is not a software company that happens to sell ads. It is an advertising company that builds software, and Chrome is one of the best tools it has for understanding what people do online.
So our advice to the businesses we support is plain: remove Google Chrome from your computers and use Brave instead. Android phones are the one place we accept Google, because it is built into them. Here is why.
Follow the money
According to Alphabet’s 2025 annual report (Form 10-K), Google advertising brought in $294.7 billion of Alphabet’s $402.8 billion in revenue, about 73 percent. Google’s privacy policy (effective May 26, 2026) lists what it collects, including “Chrome browsing history you’ve synced with your Google Account,” and says it may “show you personalized ads based on your interests and activity across Google services.” Google states it “does not sell your personal information.” It does not need to; it uses that information itself. And Chrome is staying with Google: in September 2025 a federal judge declined the government’s request to force its sale.
What Chrome does just by being installed
Chrome talks to Google before anyone opens a web page. On Windows and Macs it installs GoogleUpdater, which Google’s help page says “regularly checks for new updates,” sending the release channel, basic hardware information, how long Chrome has been installed and “whether you recently used Chrome,” plus a “4-letter tag” about how you obtained it. Google says this does not require an identifier for each installation. The updater’s design document shows it running from the Windows task scheduler and a system service set to start automatically, with tasks every hour.
- Usage and crash reports. Google’s policy documentation says users choose “at installation or first run.” Google’s crash report page says a report can include memory that “may include page contents, payment information, and passwords.”
- Experiment tags. The Register reported in 2020 that Chrome sends Google-owned sites a header (X-Client-Data) listing the feature trials that copy is enrolled in. Google said it is not used to identify individuals.
- AI that installs itself. In May 2026 Malwarebytes reported that Chrome was downloading Gemini Nano, a roughly 4 GB AI model, onto computers without asking. Google’s own policy notes that, unless an administrator says otherwise, “the model is downloaded automatically.”
None of this is secret, and some of it is routine for any browser. Our point is that installing Chrome starts a relationship with an advertising company, on its default terms, whether or not anyone signs in.
What Chrome sends when people use it
Sign-in and sync. When someone signs in and turns on sync, bookmarks, passwords and history go to their Google Account. Google’s Chrome help says that history, added to Web & App Activity, “may be used to personalize your experience on other Google products.” Company passwords end up in a personal account that leaves when the employee does.
Incognito is not private from Google. Google’s Incognito page says sites using Google services “share information about your activity on their sites with Google, including for advertising purposes.” In the Brown v. Google class action, Google denied wrongdoing but, as The Register reported in April 2024, agreed to delete or remediate billions of private-browsing records.
Tracking cookies are staying. In an October 2025 update, Google said Chrome “will maintain our current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice.” As of September 2026, blocking cross-site tracking in Chrome is still your job.
Gemini now reads the page, and can act on it
In September 2025 Google called its AI additions “the biggest upgrade to Chrome in its history.” Google’s Gemini Apps Privacy Hub (updated September 24, 2026) says Gemini in Chrome “collects and processes page content and the URL from your current tab and any other tabs you’ve shared with it.” Since March 2026, Personal Intelligence can also let Gemini in Chrome draw on a personal account’s connected Gmail and Photos.
Chrome has also gained auto browse, an AI agent that clicks through websites, fills in forms and handles multi-step tasks for you. As of September 2026 Google offers it in preview to paying U.S. subscribers, and says it pauses to “ask for your confirmation” before steps like a purchase. An assistant that reads every tab you share and types into web forms deserves the caution you would give a temp worker handed someone’s login.
Who manages the browser matters. Chrome’s enterprise policy list says that, unless changed, AI features like Gemini in Chrome, Google Lens and AI Mode default to allowing Google “to use relevant data to improve its AI models,” which “may also be reviewed by humans.” Google applies a no-training default only to browsers managed through its Admin console, and its enterprise help page says auto browse is “currently off by default for managed users.” An office browser nobody manages gets the first setting.
What we recommend
- Remove Chrome and install Brave. Brave is built on the same open-source base as Chrome, so websites and most extensions work the same, and Brave says its Shields block trackers, cross-site cookies and fingerprinting by default. Our guide to switching to Brave and Firefox walks through the move.
- Stop using Google Search too. We recommend Brave Search, or an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Claude on a business plan. See choosing a private search engine.
- If a business app truly needs Chrome, keep it for that app only, signed out, with sync, Gemini and reporting turned off by policy. Our guide for when you can’t cut the Google cord lists the settings.
- Block QUIC (a Google-designed connection method) at the firewall. Sophos explains that QUIC can slip past web filtering unless it is blocked.
Email and documents matter as much as the browser; see Gmail and Google’s office tools and AI search in 2026.
How FTI helps
Finite Technologies has been an Alaskan technology company since 1990, and we build our own technology, so we watch closely where data goes. Through our managed IT services, we remove Chrome, roll out Brave with sensible settings, and configure Sophos security so web traffic is actually inspected. We plan the switch so nobody loses bookmarks or a morning’s work.
