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

Let them make profit. We probably should have to pay for traffic and advertisement on the web. But regulate it so that there cannot be price gouging. For instance there are maximum interest chargeable on loans. You should be able to loan money at interest but there is a point where you are just using your power to economically exploit others. Especially if there is no option.