Not OP but as a public utility it would be paid for through both taxes and usage The actual computational resources required to provide search would be a fract

Not OP but as a public utility it would be paid for through both taxes and usage The actual computational resources required to provide search would be a fraction of Google’s operating costs Added benefit would be pitting private providers against each other so they’re incentivised to provide better outcomes, as opposed to the current decoupling of utility and market position The current situation is immensely wasteful of everyone’s time and resources (Alphabet shareholders aside) It really is a Standard Oil situation, but as it’s just inflaming - but not halting -the global economy, it’s been flying under regulators’ radar until a few years ago No moat is too wide for the flick of sufficiently powerful pens, business models be damned