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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, along with the Department of Justice and dozens of other attorneys general, announced a proposal Thursday aimed at breaking up what they call Google’s “illegal monopoly.”
“Google’s business practices are designed in a manner that stifles competition and restricts consumers’ choices for search engines,” AG Campbell said in a statement. This comes after a federal judge ruled in August that Google had violated antitrust laws when it comes to online search. The coalition of attorneys general had previously filed a lawsuit over the issue back in 2020, when Gov. Maura Healey was still the Massachusetts Attorney General.
There are a number of suggested remedies in Thursday’s proposal. Chief among them, Google would be required to sell internet browser Chrome. The attorneys general argue that’s where a large portion of Google searches are made.
The proposal also suggests “prohibiting Google from paying to be the initial default search engine on any phone, device, browser, " according to a press release from Campbell’s office.
Google would also be required to share data and information it got illegally with its competitors, and inform “consumers what the company did, why it is illegal, and what choices they actually have in search engines.”
The coalition filed the proposal in federal court in Washington, D.C. A hearing has been scheduled for April 22, 2025.
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