A federal judge ruled Monday that Google has illegally maintained a monopoly over the search engine industry through anti-competitive business practices.
Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a nearly 300-page ruling Monday that struck down the tech giant’s exclusive contracts with web browsers and device manufacturers that allow it to serve as users’ default search engine as a violation of anti-trust laws.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” wrote Judge Mehta.
This ruling reportedly marks the DOJ’s first legal victory against a monopoly power in more than twenty years.
“Google, of course, recognizes that losing defaults would dramatically impact its bottom
line,” Mehta explained. “The defaults are more than just ‘incremental promotion.’ They supply Google with unequalled query volume that is effectively unavailable to rivals.”
“Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share and make them whole for any revenue shortfalls resulting from the change,” wrote Mehta. “No current search engine in the market can compete on those terms. It is even harder to envision a new entrant doing so.”
It is expected that this ruling will ultimately trigger a separate set of proceedings to determine what penalties the tech giant may eventually face.
Click Here to Read Judge Mehta’s Full Ruling
“This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”
“This landmark decision holds Google accountable. It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Kanter. “This victory is a reflection on the tireless efforts of the dedicated public servants at the Antitrust Division and our state law enforcement partners whose work made today’s decision possible.”
Click Here to Read the Full Press Release from the Attorney General’s Office
“This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Google President of Global Affairs Kent Walker said in a statement posted to X.
“We appreciate the Court’s finding that Google is ‘the industry’s highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users’, that Google ‘has long been the best search engine, particularly on mobile devices’, ‘has continued to innovate in search’ and that ‘Apple and Mozilla occasionally assess Google’s search quality relative to its rivals and find Google’s to be superior,’” he continued.
Walker went on to confirm that Google plans to appeal the court’s ruling in this case.
“Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal,” Walker concluded. “As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
Last September, Google reached a $700 million settlement in an anti-trust lawsuit filed by a number of state attorneys general, including Maine’s Aaron Frey, over the company’s policies surrounding the Google Play Store.
The $700 million settlement consists of $630 million in restitution payments to customers who were impacted by the practices under scrutiny in the lawsuit. An additional $70 million in penalties will be paid to the states.
[RELATED: $700 Million Settlement Reached with Google in Anti-Trust Lawsuit Filed by State Attorneys General]
Behind this lawsuit were accusations that Google, among other things, entered into exclusive contracts with the manufacturers of Android devices to ensure that the Google Play Store was the only app store installed on these devices by default.
Google was also accused of buying off other app store developers to prevent competition from emerging and “erecting technological hurdles” to discourage users from sideloading apps and alternative app stores.
This settlement was finalized and executed in full on November 17, 2023.
In recent years, the DOJ has also filed anti-trust lawsuit against a number of other major corporations, including Meta, Amazon, and Apple.
This is good as Google manipulates what people are more than likely to view when they browse a topic. Very lefty driven.
Thank you judge!!!