(9 Jun 2021) Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a lawsuit asking a court to declare Google a public utility and to regulate it as one in the latest twist on the escalating legal efforts to rein in the company that runs the internet's dominant search engine. "This is something called a declaratory judgment, and basically it's seeking to have a court declare that Google's search is so dominant in the marketplace that they have additional duties under the law," Yost said. The Republican official is alleging Google has been abusing its power in a way that is discriminatory and anti-competitive to Ohio residents. "There will be a much more level playing field when you do that Google search, you won't be getting preferred results for businesses that Google is invested in. You'll actually be getting the raw results of their algorithm," Yost said. "It wouldn't have Google's thumb on the scale anymore." Google attacked the lawsuit Tuesday as a misguided attempt to force changes that would diminish the quality of its search results. "Ohioans simply don't want the government to run Google like a gas or electric company," Google said in a statement. "This lawsuit has no basis in fact or law and we'll defend ourselves against it in court." "We're not trying to touch their algorithm," Yost said in repsonse to the statement."We're just trying to get them and the courts to recognize because they've gotten so big, because there's so ingrown to every aspect of our modern lives, that they have a higher duty to the public interest." "They aren't just a startup like they were 15 years ago trying to figure out how to monetize themselves," Yost added. Ohio is the first state in the country to seek a court declaration that Google is a public utility that should be subject to government regulation. The complaint is just the latest in a series of legal threats the tech giant is facing both in the U.S. and abroad, including a multi-state antitrust lawsuit assailing Google's business practices, which Yost also joined in December. That is just one of three major antitrust lawsuits filed against Google across the U.S. last autumn, including an attempted crackdown by the U.S. Justice Department. Google has vowed to fiercely contest the allegations in each of those lawsuits in a battle that is expected to take years to resolve. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3365ad9f98354f168635115a8c2068b5