Google acted illegally to destroy competition and become the world's default search engine, a U.S. court found. The giant spent billions of dollars each year to ensure its dominance in the browser market.
On Monday, the court in USA ruled that Google is a “monopolist and has acted like a monopolist to maintain its dominance.” “The ruling paves the way for another trial to determine potential solutions, including possibly splitting up Google's parent company, Alphabet,” Reuters reports.
The court's ruling will also be a sign to US antitrust authorities that the fight against dominant big techs, although difficult, can be effective. Alphabet has already announced it will appeal the ruling.
Google spent billions to maintain monopoly
Monday's ruling came after a 10-week trial in Washington.
Justice Amit Mehta pointed out that Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 aloneto be the default browser on smartphones and web browsers. Big tech has worked with Samsung, Mozilla, and Apple, among others.
– The court came to the following conclusion: Google is a monopoly and has acted like a monopoly to maintain its monopoly, Mehta emphasized. In his ruling, the judge said that being the default search engine is “extremely valuable real estate” for Google.
As Reuters notes, Alphabet shares fell 4.5 percent following Monday's ruling. Google currently controls about 90 percent of the online search market and 95 percent on smartphones.
Reaction to the verdict
Alphabet said it plans to appeal the ruling. “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but says we shouldn't be able to easily share it,” the company said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the nation's top prosecutor, called the ruling “a historic victory for the American people.”
“No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law,” Garland said in a statement Monday. “The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws,” he said.
Google's search engine is a huge source of revenue for the company, earning it billions of dollars, largely through ads displayed on search results pages.
Google's lawyers defended the company, arguing that users use its search engine because they find it useful, and Google invests to improve it for consumers.
“Google wins because it's better,” Google lawyer John Schmidtlein said during closing arguments earlier this year.
Schmidtlein argued at the hearing that Google still faces stiff competition, not only from search engine companies like Microsoft's Bing, but also from more specialized sites and apps that people use to search for restaurants, flights and other information.
As Reuters notes, Alphabet's share prices fell 4.5 percent following Monday's verdict.
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