US Judge Finds Google ‘Is Monopolist’ In Landmark Ruling

A US federal judge has ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in search and online advertising.

“The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the ruling by judge Amit Mehta said.

Mehta found specifically that the company had maintained a monopoly in general search services and general search text advertising, although he rejected the US Department of Justice’s claim that the company monopolised another specific area of the ads market.

The ruling paves the way for another trial around remedies, which is likely to prove lengthy.

Remedy phase

The remedy phase could also be followed by appeals to the DC Circuit and US Supreme Courts, making it likely the case will continue into next year and possibly 2026.

Remedies could involve prohibiting Google from paying partners to be the default search engine on computers and smartphones, a breakup of the firm’s search business or other measures.

Google parent Alphabet said it plans to appeal the ruling.

“This landmark decision holds Google accountable,” said Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter in a statement.

“It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.”

The ruling is a significant win for US antitrust authorities, which have filed a series of lawsuits against the biggest tech companies over the past four years since the Google case began under the previous administration in 2020.

Mehta noted that Google paid $26.3 billion (£20.5bn) in 2021 alone to ensure its search was the default on smartphones and browsers and to maintain its dominant share of roughly 90 percent for online search and 95 percent for smartphones.

Big Tech suits

“Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share and make them whole for any revenue shortfalls resulting from the change,” Mehta wrote.

He said Google itself had estimated that losing the Safari default on Macs and iPhones would result in “billions of dollars in lost revenues”.

Google has argued it remains successful because of its high quality.

“Google is winning because it’s better,” said Google lawyer John Schmidtlein in closing statements earlier this year.

The trial lasted 10 weeks from September to November of last year and concluded with closing statements in May.

Other antitrust lawsuits are pending against Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple that claim the companies have illegally maintained monopolies.

A separate case against Google over its advertising technology is scheduled for trial in September.