Google’s Found Guilty for Illegal Monopoly on Internet Search

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Google was acting illegally by holding a monopoly in search and text advertising. The tech giant was found guilty of paying billions of dollars to tech companies to make Google the default search...

The post Google’s Found Guilty for Illegal Monopoly on Internet Search appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Google was acting illegally by holding a monopoly in search and text advertising. The tech giant was found guilty of paying billions of dollars to tech companies to make Google the default search engine and keep its dominance among other search engines, violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act. 

The ruling is viewed as a landmark case won by federal authorities in their continued battle against big tech’s dominance in the market. “This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people. No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. 

The case against Google dates back to 2020 when it was initially filed by the Department of Justice and attorneys general from a handful of states. In 2023, the Justice Department released a statement charging Google with “anticompetitive conduct,” such as buying out competitors and forcing website publishers to conform to Google’s tools.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta issued the decision detailing the claims against Google after reviewing evidence and testimonies from tech executives from last year’s 10-week trial. In the decision, Mehta credited the platform as the “best search engine,” but found that the company spent more than $26 billion in 2021 to have Google as the default engine on cellphones and tech gadgets. By paying big sums to tech developers and manufacturers, Google maintained its dominance amongst other search engines. Mehta concluded, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”

Competing search engines, such as DuckDuckGo, celebrated the ruling for condemning Google’s practices. “Google will do anything it can to avoid changing its conduct. However, we know there is a pent up demand for alternatives in search and this ruling will support access to more options,” DuckDuckGo said on X. 

In response to the ruling, Google’s president, Kent Walker, stated that the company plans to appeal Mehta’s decision. “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Walker said. A jury trial for the lawsuit is set for early September 2024.

The post Google’s Found Guilty for Illegal Monopoly on Internet Search appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.