A United States judge has declared that Google acted illegally to overwhelm its competition and sustain an online monopoly on searches and advertising.
This ruling comes after Google was sued by the United States Department of Justice in 2020 because they controlled 90 percent of the online search market.
This lawsuit is part of a wider strategy against large tech corporations to encourage competition in the industry. The strategy also aims to prevent companies such as Google from partaking in other online monopolies.
The decision to rule against Google could force its parent company, Alphabet, to change the way it handles online businesses.
Penalties faced by Google and Alphabet over monopoly
The judge’s ruling did not establish what penalties Google and Alphabet will face for their online monopoly. These will be determined in a future hearing.
There is, however, an indication of what the punishment might be. The United States government has asked for “structural relief” measures, which would cause the company to split up.
This radical punishment prompted Alphabet to announce they plan to appeal the decision.
In a statement, the company said, “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”
United States Attorney General Merrick Garland called the ruling against Google a “historic win for the American people.”
Garland stated that “No company—no matter how large or influential—is above the law” and added that the Justice Department will enforce antitrust laws.
The ruling was made after a 10-week trial in Washington in which Google allegedly spent billions of dollars every year to be pre-installed as the default search engine in mobile devices.
Google allegedly paid companies such as Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla to be pre-installed in their devices and services.
During the trial, prosecutors said Google pays around $10 billion every year to these companies, thus allowing them to access user data and maintain the online monopoly.
The strategy employed by Google is not surprising given that its search engine is one of their largest revenue generators. In 2023, this service generated $305.6 billion in revenue for the tech giant.
Google is winning because it’s better
Google’s lawyers based their defense in the online monopoly trial on the fact that Google is practical for users and that the company invests on improving services.
John Schidtlein, one of Google’s lawyers, went even further. He argued that Google faces fierce competition from other search engines, such as Microsoft Bing, but Google is winning “because it’s better” and not because it has a market Monopoly.
