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Search engine giant Google would be barred from paying to make its product the default on popular mobile devices, under a legal settlement proposed in a lawsuit by the Department of Justice and dozens of states, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced.
The proposed resolutions follow a federal judge’s ruling in August that Google maintains an unlawful monopoly on internet searches. The company would also be required to sell off its Chrome internet browser. It could also be mandated to divest its Android operating system, which underlies many smartphones and mobile computing devices, if the initial solutions are unsuccessful.
“To ‘Google’ is used synonymously with searching for something online, and this coalition strongly believes that is due to monopolistic practices that have gone on for far too long,” Sunday said in a statement Monday. “Monopolies are bad for consumers, and in this case, the current search engine configuration allows Google to dictate search results, instead of the consumer controlling what they see.”
Sunday added the DOJ and attorneys general hope the resolutions will foster more diverse search options for consumers. Google did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Pennsylvania joined the suit in 2021 when now-Gov. Josh Shapiro was attorney general.
The lawsuit alleges Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines and related advertising markets through a series of anticompetitive exclusionary contracts and conduct. As a result, consumers are deprived of competition that could provide more choice, innovation and privacy protection, the suit claimed.
“Furthermore, Google has exploited its market position to accumulate and leverage data to the detriment of consumers,” Shapiro’s office said in 2021.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia found Google holds monopoly power in the general internet search and search text advertising markets.
Drawing on the 2001 decision that Microsoft had used exclusive agreements to obtain monopoly power over the web browser marketplace, Mehta found Google’s agreements with Apple and Android distributors, among others, established Google as the “out-of-the-box search engine,” and constituted exclusive dealing.
The proposed resolutions would give the DOJ and state attorneys general the ability to review Google’s financial positions in general search and generative artificial intelligence competitors to ensure Google cannot use the same anticompetitive strategies with future technologies. It would also require Google to share some of its data with competitors for a limited time.
The coalition of Attorneys General was co-led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.