A US judge ruled that Google violated antitrust law, spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the world’s default search engine, the first big win for federal authorities taking on Big Tech’s market dominance.
The ruling paves the way for a second trial to determine potential fixes, possibly including a breakup of Google parent Alphabet, which would change the landscape of the online advertising world that Google has dominated for years.
The decision has also given a green light to aggressive US antitrust enforcers prosecuting Big Tech, a sector that has been under fire from across the political spectrum.
“The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” District Judge Amit Mehta wrote.
The search engine giant controls about 90% of the online search market, and 95% on smartphones.
The “remedy” phase could be lengthy, followed by potential appeals to the District of Columbia Circuit and US Supreme Court. The legal wrangling could play out into next year, or even 2026.
Google advertising was 77% of Alphabet’s total sales in 2023.
Alphabet said it plans to appeal Mr Mehta’s ruling.
“This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Google said in a statement.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the ruling “a historic win for the American people,” adding that “no company, no matter how large or influential, is above the law.”
Billions paid
Mr Mehta noted that Google had paid $26.3 billion in 2021 alone to ensure that its search engine is the default on smartphones and browsers, and to keep its dominant market share..
In the past four years, federal antitrust regulators have also sued Meta Platforms, Amazon.com and Apple, claiming the companies have illegally maintained monopolies.
When it was filed in 2020, the Google search case was the first time in a generation that the US government accused a major corporation of an illegal monopoly. Microsoft settled with the US Justice Department in 2004 over claims that it forced its Internet Explorer Web browser on Windows users.