A bipartisan group of state attorneys general plans to file an anti-trust lawsuit against Alphabet's Google as early as next month, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The states argue that Google is illegally protecting its dominant position in the market for search and search advertising with the deals it has struck with companies like Apple.
Google pays Apple billions of dollars a year to have its search engine set as the default option on iPhones and other devices.
The lawsuit is separate from a widely anticipated Texas antitrust action that could also come before the end of the year.
The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in October, and this group of states has said it planned to combine its case with the government's.
The states are Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.
Google, whose headquarters in Mountain View, California, is pictured, is facing a series of suits
One source said the states planned to file the lawsuit in federal court in mid to late December while the second said the target date was December 15.
The group has had an expansive probe underway into Google's businesses, including Android.
No final decisions had been made regarding what would be included in the lawsuit, a third source said.
Texas and other states are focusing on Google's dominance of digital advertising.
Google has broadly denied wrongdoing in response to the government's lawsuit and other probes, and said that its search engine and other products are dominant because consumers prefer them.
The states' expansive inquiry contrasts with the Justice Department's relatively narrow lawsuit, which focused on Google's efforts to build and retain its dominance in search and its search advertising business.
To win their case, the Justice Department must prove that Google is dominant in search, and that its deals with Apple and other companies restrict competition in the search market.
Google insist that there is plenty of competition from Bing and Yahoo, but say that 80 per cent of Americans use their service to search because it is superior.
The Justice Department is likely to take their case to the courts, where it will run for many years.