First, historic antitrust ruling of the modern internet era against a technology giant: "Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search."
The decision of the federal judge of the US capital Amit P. Mehta agrees with the Department of Justice and the American states which in 2020 had taken Google to court, accusing it of having illegally consolidated its dominance, in part, by paying to other companies, such as Apple and Samsung and Verizon, billions of dollars a year to automatically become the search provider on their smartphones and web browsers.
In a 286-page ruling, the judge ruled that the Menlo Park giant has blocked about 90% of the Internet search market through a partnership with Apple (18 billion dollars in 2021 according to the New York Times) and others telecommunications operators . And it ruled that Google penalized Microsoft in the market for advertisements displayed next to search results, allowing it to illegally dominate that market as well. The decision comes after a 10-week trial last year.
The federal government and several states argued that by paying billions of dollars to be the automatic search engine on consumers' devices, Google had denied its competitors the opportunity to build the scale required to compete with its search engine. In his testimony, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he was concerned that his rival's dominance had created a "Google web" and that its relationship with Apple was "oligopolistic." And he warned that if he continued undaunted, Google would probably also become dominant in the race to develop artificial intelligence.
The company had defended itself by saying that it was winning the challenge "because it was better". The measure does not include remedies for the Menlo Park company's behavior but now Judge Mehta will have to decide on the matter, potentially forcing it to change the way it operates or sell part of its business.
The ruling could therefore radically alter the way Big Tech moves in the market. According to the New York Times, the decision is the most significant victory to date for American regulators who are trying to curb the power of tech giants and will likely influence other government antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp).
