A FEDERAL judge from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google has violated the U.S. antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the online search market.
Judge, Amit Mehta on Tuesday agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google has a monopoly in “general search services” and the general search text ads market.
“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reached the following conclusion.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” according to the court’s ruling.
It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
Google controls about 90 per cent of the online search market and 95 per cent on smartphones, said the ruling, capping a year’s long case.
The DOJ reportedly sued in 2020 over Google’s dominance in online search, which was the first time in a generation that the U.S. government accused a major corporation of an illegal monopoly.
This landmark decision holds Google accountable, DOJ antitrust Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said this in a statement.
It said that it paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.
Kent Walker, Google’s president of Global Affairs, said the company intended to appeal to Mehta’s ruling.
This decision recognised that Google offered the best search engine, but concluded that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available, according to the statement.
“As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
Google’s fate will be decided in the next phase of proceedings, which could determine potential fixes possibly including a breakup of Google’s parent Alphabet.
The next separate antitrust trial between the DOJ and Google would start on Sept. 9 in Virginia.
However, the case would focus on whether Google has illegally monopolised advertising technology.
Amazon, Apple, and Meta will now all face monopolisation lawsuits from the U.S. government. (Xinhua/NAN)
