NORTH CAROLINA (WGHP) — North Carolina and more than 30 other states seek to end Google's alleged "unlawful" monopoly over internet search engines, the N.C. Department of Justice announced. According to a press release, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, the attorneys general of 33 other states as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam, and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a proposal on Wednesday full of remedies aiming to break up Google. “Google damaged the market and harmed competition for North Carolinians,” said Stein. “These steps would help restore healthy competition and ensure that Google has to play by the same rules as everyone else again.” Stein and other attorneys general previously sued Google in December 2020 for maintaining power by using anti-competitive contracts and conduct. That lawsuit alleged that Google used exclusionary agreements and other practices to limit the ability of rival general search engines and potential rivals to reach people, cementing Google as the go-to search engine on computers and mobile devices. The company allegedly harmed users of its search-advertising management tool, SA360, by promising that it would not favor Google search advertising over that of competing search engines such as Bing. Instead, Google favored advertising on its own platform, inflating its profits to the detriment of advertisers, consumers, and competitors. Google is also accused of discriminating against specialized search sites — such as those that provide travel, home repair, or entertainment services — by depriving them access to prime real estate among its search results because these competing sites threaten Google’s revenue and dominant position. 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: Prohibit Google from paying to be the initial default search engine on any phone, device, or browser.  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).  Require Google to divest its Chrome browser, through which a significant percentage of all Google searches are made.  Prohibit Google from making Google Search or Google AI mandatory on Android devices, interfering with rivals’ distribution, or degrading rivals’ quality.  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.  Require Google to fund a public awareness campaign to inform consumers about the choices they have in selecting a search engine.  Establish a five-member technical committee to implement, monitor, and enforce the remedies for 10 years. A hearing on the proposed remedies is scheduled for Apr. 22, 2025.