US Judge Rules Google’s Online Search Monopoly Illegal

In a landmark decision, a US judge has ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain its monopoly on online search and related advertising, dealing a significant blow to Alphabet, Google’s parent company. This decision could have far-reaching implications for how major technology companies conduct business.

The lawsuit, filed by the US Department of Justice in 2020, focused on Google’s control of approximately 90% of the online search market. It is part of a broader effort by US antitrust authorities to enhance competition in the tech industry through several lawsuits against big tech companies.

This case poses a potential existential threat to Google and Alphabet due to their dominance in the search and online advertising sectors. The penalties Google and Alphabet will face are yet to be determined, with fines or other remedies to be decided in a future hearing. The government has requested “structural relief,” which could theoretically involve breaking up the company.

US District Judge Amit Mehta noted in his 277-page opinion that Google paid billions to ensure its search engine remained the default on smartphones and browsers. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta stated.

In response, Alphabet announced its plans to appeal the ruling. “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” the company said in a statement.

Federal antitrust regulators have also filed lawsuits against other Big Tech companies, including Meta Platforms (owner of Facebook), Amazon, and Apple, accusing them of maintaining unlawful monopolies.

The ruling follows a 10-week trial in Washington, DC, where prosecutors accused Google of spending billions annually to secure its position as the default search engine across platforms, such as Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla. The US government alleged that Google typically pays over $10 billion annually for this privilege, which provides access to user data critical for sustaining its market dominance.

Google’s defense argued that users are drawn to their search engine because of its usefulness and that Google invests in improving it for consumers. “Google is winning because it’s better,” said Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlein during closing arguments. He also contended that Google faces significant competition from other search engines like Microsoft’s Bing and specialized sites and apps used for specific searches, such as restaurants and flights.

In his ruling, Judge Mehta concluded that being the default search engine is “extremely valuable real estate” for Google.