- A bipartisan group of 38 AGs and the U.S. DOJ have submitted a proposed final judgment to a U.S. District Court in their antitrust suit against Google, in which, as we previously reported, the court held that Google violated the Sherman Act by maintaining a monopoly in the markets for general search services and text advertising through its exclusive distribution agreements with major tech companies.
- The AGs’ and DOJ’s proposed final judgment would prohibit Google from paying to be the initial default search engine on phones, devices, or browsers; require Google to divest its browser Chrome; prohibit Google from providing its search products preferential access to related products or services that it owns or controls such as its mobile operating system (e.g., Android); and require it to share scale-dependent data inputs with competitors.
- The Colorado AG separately proposed a consumer education campaign funded by Google to provide information about Google’s conduct and search engine choices.
- A hearing on the proposed remedies is currently scheduled to begin on April 22, 2025, and conclude by May 2.