You need to disable the setting to "open web pages in the app", you can find it in the general section in the Google feed settings. If your default browser is not chrome, it should open in that browser.

But they don't have hands

I'm pretty sure the stock SMS app that comes with your phone also needs access to the contacts permissions, but is enabled by default, so the app doesn't even ask for it.

Great minds think alike

Ankylosaurus