A US judge has ruled that search engine giant Google’s ad collection strategy, which monopolizes online searches to stifle competition, is illegal. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said in a ruling on Monday in a Washington, D.C., court after a 10-week hearing that billions have been paid to ensure that Google is the default search engine on smartphones and browsers. He wrote in his 277-page opinion, “Google is a monopolist online. They have worked to maintain their monopoly as a search engine.”
However, Reuters reported that Alphabet may appeal the ruling.
Monday’s landmark decision is seen as a major blow to Google’s parent company Alphabet. At the same time, the ruling is reshaping how tech giants do business.
Earlier in 2020, the US Department of Justice sued Google for controlling nearly 90 percent of the online search market. It is one of several lawsuits filed against major tech companies as US antitrust authorities try to boost competition in the industry. The country’s top prosecutor and US Attorney General Merrick Garland hailed the ruling as a “historic victory for the American people” in the case against Google against Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and other platforms. He said, “No company, no matter how big or influential is that is above the law. Antitrust laws will therefore be vigorously enforced by our judiciary.”
Federal antitrust regulators have pending other cases against big tech companies. Along with the meta platform Facebook, Amazon.com and Apple Inc owner Google have accused its ad business practices of illegal and monopolistic practices. They accused Google of spending billions of dollars annually to pre-install the default search engine on various devices.
