The tech giant retains over 90 per cent of the search engine market and approximately 95 per cent on smartphones, but The U.S Department of Justice filed court papers on Wednesday (20.11.24) calling for a stop to the monopoly.

Government lawyers urged US District Judge Amit Mehta to force Google to cease entering contracts with firms, such as Samsung and Apple, to stop their smartphone and tablet devices having it as a default search engine.

They wrote: "Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled."

However, Google has hit back at the "staggering" proposal, which would "hurt consumers and America's global technological leadership".

Kent Walker, President, Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, Google and Alphabet, said: "DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone OEMs, and wireless carriers.

"Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership. DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."

He added: "DOJ’s approach would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses — and jeopardize America’s global economic and technological leadership at precisely the moment it’s needed most."

Google can present its own proposals in December, with a trial set for April.