The US DOJ is continuing its antitrust case against Google, accusing the tech giant of illegally maintaining a monopoly in online search.

The DoJ found that prohibiting Google from making investments in the sector could 'cause unintended consequences in the evolving AI space.'

In what will come as some solace for Google, the DOJ dropped its proposal to curb Google's AI acquisitions. AI startup, Anthropic, which has a considerable investment from Google, told the court last month that losing the funding could cede some of its product's advantage to rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI.

In its final proposed remedy filing in the Google antitrust case, the Department of Justice reiterated that Google should stop paying partners for search placement—and divest its dominant Chrome browser.

According to the DOJ, divesting Chrome from Google’s ecosystem would restore competition and offer rival search engines a more level playing field. In its court submission, the DOJ described Google as an “economic goliath” that “wreaks havoc over the marketplace to ensure that — no matter what occurs — Google always wins”.

Following a court ruling that Google has abused its monopoly in search and online advertising, the judge in the case will consider proposed remedies from both the US Department of Justice as well as Google.

We proved Google violated antitrust law in an epic federal trial. Now it’s time to solve the problem. Today’s proposed final remedies package holds Google accountable for its search monopoly and protects consumers by promoting competition.

In its new filing, the DOJ calls Google “an economic goliath” that it says “has denied users of a basic American value—the ability to choose in the marketplace.” To deal