Attorney General Josh Stein Proposes Solutions to End Google Search Engine Monopoly

For Planning Purposes:
Friday, November 22, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein, other state attorneys general, and the Justice Department this week proposed remedies that would end Google’s unlawful monopoly over internet search engines and restore competition.

“Google damaged the market and harmed competition for North Carolinians,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “These steps would help restore healthy competition and ensure that Google has to play by the same rules as everyone else again.”

Attorney General Stein was part of the executive committee that led 38 bipartisan attorneys general in suing Google in December 2020, alleging that Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines through anticompetitive contracts and conduct. In a landmark decision in August 2024, a D.C. federal district court judge ruled that Google had violated federal antitrust laws by illegally maintaining a monopoly in online search and search text ads.

The proposed final judgment would:

1. Prohibit Google from paying to be the initial default search engine on any phone, device, or browser.
2. Require Google to share with its rivals the data and information that Google unlawfully obtained through its monopoly power (while protecting personal privacy and security).
3. Require Google to divest its Chrome browser, through which a significant percentage of all Google searches are made.
4. Prohibit Google from making Google Search or Google AI mandatory on Android devices, interfering with rivals’ distribution, or degrading rivals’ quality.
5. Require Google to give publishers the ability to opt out of having their data collected to help train Google’s AI models or provide Generative AI answers.
6. Require Google to fund a public awareness campaign to inform consumers about the choices they have in selecting a search engine.
7. Establish a five-member technical committee to implement, monitor, and enforce the remedies for 10 years.

A hearing on the proposed remedies is currently scheduled to begin on April 22, 2025.

Attorney General Stein is joined in proposing this judgment by the Attorneys General of Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, Iowa, New York, Tennessee, Utah, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

A copy of the proposed judgment is here.

###