Search engine giant Google was found on Monday (5/8) to have illegally exploited its dominance to destroy competition and stifle innovation.
The ruling was issued by US District Judge Amit Mehta, after nearly a year since the start of the trial, which pitted the US Department of Justice against Google, in a legal battle. antitrust the largest (antitrust) case in the United States in a quarter century.
After reviewing a wealth of evidence, including testimony from Google, Microsoft and Apple executives during a 10-week trial last year, Mehta issued a potentially market-changing ruling.
“After careful consideration, and weighing the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopoly, and it is acting in such a way as to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in the 277-page ruling.
This is a major setback for Google and its parent, Alphabet Inc., which has argued that its popularity stems from consumers' overwhelming desire to use a search engine that is so good at what it does that it has become synonymous with searching for something. online.
Google's search engine currently processes about 8.5 billion searches per day worldwide, nearly double the daily volume of 12 years ago, according to a recent study released by investment firm BOND.
Google will almost certainly appeal the decision, in a process that could ultimately end up in the US Supreme Court.
The case portrays Google as a technology bully that has systematically thwarted competition to protect its search engine, which has become the centerpiece of a digital advertising machine that generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year.
Justice Department lawyers argue that Google's monopoly allows it to charge sky-high prices for advertising, while enjoying the luxury of investing more time and money in improving the quality of its search engine — a laid-back approach that they say is detrimental to consumers.
Mehta’s ruling focused on the billions of dollars Google spends each year to install its search engine as the default option on new phones and tech gadgets. In 2021, Google spent more than $26 billion to lock in those default agreements, Mehta said in his ruling.
Google has since downplayed the allegations, noting that consumers have historically changed search engines when they’re disappointed with the results they get. For example, Yahoo — now a minor player on the internet — was the most popular search engine during the 1990s, before Google came along.
Still, Mehta acknowledged the quality of Google's product as a key part of its dominance, saying emphatically that “Google is widely recognized as the best (general search engine) available in the United States.”
Mehta's conclusion that Google has engaged in illegal monopolistic practices opens up another phase of legal action to determine what kind of changes, or penalties, should be imposed to reverse the damage that has been done and restore a more competitive landscape. (th/ka)
