Google breaks the law to crush competitors and maintain its search and advertising monopoly, a US federal court has ruled, making it virtually impossible for challengers to compete with the tech giant.
The company was sued by the US Department of Justice back in 2020, when it controlled more than 90% of the search engine market and was accused of systematically and dubiously thwarting all competitors and favoring itself.
After reviewing a large amount of evidence and hearing testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple, among others, the court found that Google had used its dominance to block alternative search engines – including by paying billions of dollars to make its search engine the default on mobile phone browsers.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly”, Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion.
Solicitor General Merrick Garland hailed the ruling as a “historic victory for the American people” and said that “No company – no matter how large or influential – is above the law”.
It should be noted that similar lawsuits have been filed against other Big Tech companies such as Meta Platforms (Facebook), Amazon.com and Apple Inc – all of which have been accused of operating illegal monopolies.
Nearly impossible to compete
Google typically pays more than $10 billion annually to be pre-installed as the default search engine on various platforms – which also ensures that the company has continued access to and control over users’ data – thereby strengthening its control over the market.
Prosecutors pointed out that this strategy means that upstarts do not have the ability or resources to compete fairly.
“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”, the judge ruled.
Google itself argues that users are attracted to its search engine because it is better than those of its competitors, and its parent company, Alphabet, is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Google’s search engine generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year.
