Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a coalition involving 38 attorneys general and the DOJ aiming to end Google's monopoly over internet search engines. Proposed remedies include potential divestitures of assets like Chrome and Android. This follows a federal ruling labeling Google a monopolist in search. Weiser emphasized the need for competition restoration, highlighting the coalition's efforts. Notably, the remedies no longer require the sale of Google's AI investments. Google plans to appeal against the ruling and the proposed remedies, criticizing the DOJ's approach as overly interventionist.
"For years, the Google browser has been the dominant gateway for users to search the internet," said Weiser, who led the coalition that included states such as Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington as well as the District of Columbia and one territory, Puerto Rico.
"The states have worked closely with the DOJ on a robust set of remedies to end Google's monopoly grip of the search market and search advertising, which has stifled innovation, undermined competition, and harmed consumers," Weiser said. "Our proposed remedies are designed to restore competition in the search marketplace and benefit consumers."
Currently, an estimated 3.45 billion people globally use Chrome as their browser, according to a 2024 report from Backlinko.
"For its part, DOJ filed a proposal reflecting an interventionist agenda. Its proposal goes far beyond what the court's decision is actually about," said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's vice president of regulatory affairs.
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