Google’s search business officially ruled as illegal monopoly

In a landmark decision, a US district court recently found Google’s search and advertising business to be an illegal monopoly. But no sanctions were handed down, presumably left open for future determination.

For now, then, nothing will change. But the 277-page decision (plus appendices) clearly labels Google as an illegal monopolist in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Google said it would appeal the decision.

The court case began in December 2020 and has moved in fits and starts ever since, over a nine-week bench trial, over 3,500 exhibits, and evidence that reached into the petabytes, the court wrote. Plaintiffs included the US government and the State of Colorado.

“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

US District Judge Amit P. Mehta

The court was asked whether or not Google had illegally maintained a monopoly both in its general search experience as well as its related textual advertising business. (Achieving a monopoly is not illegal, but using your market power to maintain it is.)

The court found that it had, pointing to the anticompetitive deals that Google struck with Apple and other vendors to be the default search engine on those platforms. But the court also declined to rule against Google in certain complaints, including finding that Google lacks monopoly power in the market for search ads.

In part, the case dragged on because Mehta wrote that he was “taken aback by the lengths to which Google goes to avoid creating a paper trail for regulators and litigants.”

“Any company that puts the onus on its employees to identify and preserve relevant evidence does so at its own peril,” he wrote. “Google avoided sanctions in this case. It may not be so lucky in the next one.”

The decision could have an effect on whether companies like Apple might be required to offer consumers more options in their choice of search providers, and could have an effect on the revenue that comes from mobile advertising. But that’s all up to follow-up rulings and enforcement.

Right now, the harshest measures are in the court of public opinion. Barring a successful appeal, Google’s search business is now officially ruled an illegal monopoly.

Google plans to appeal.

“This decision recognizes 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 attributed to Kent Walker, president of global affairs. “

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,” Walker said. “Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal.  As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”

Updated at 2:11 PM PT with a statement from Google.