Five attorneys general join lawsuit against Google

Attorneys general from four states and Puerto Rico joined the Texas-led lawsuit against Google, including Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, the first Democrat to join the effort.

Alaska, Florida, Montana and Nevada, which all have Republican attorneys general, also joined the lawsuit on Monday, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 15 states and territories.

What’s in the lawsuit: The lawsuit filed in December alleges Google has violated federal and state antitrust and consumer protection laws. The Texas-led suit focuses on allegations that Google stifled competition in the advertising technology market.

In the updated complaint filed Monday, the states also target Google’s plans to phase out its tracking features that use third-party cookies.

“Google’s new scheme is, in essence, to wall off the entire portion of the internet that consumers access through Google’s Chrome browser,” the states said in the complaint.