A federal judge ruled that Google has monopolized the search engine sector and violated anti-trust laws.
Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in the ruling that “Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete.”
“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
“Importantly, the court also finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits,” the ruling added.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey celebrated the ruling, writing on X, “This is a HUGE win, especially as Google continues to censor conservative voices.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a similar statement on social media, declaring that Google “engaged in anticompetitive trade practices to monopolize internet search engines and advertisements.”
“I’m proud to lead this case and deliver another major win against Big Tech,” he added.
Paxton sued Google in 2020 after the search engine controlled “nearly 90% of all search queries in the United States and almost 95% on mobile devices,” according to a release from Paxton’s office.
“After years of litigation, the court concluded that Google engaged in illegal conduct to dominate the online search services industry through anticompetitive practices such as exclusive distribution agreements designed to undermine competition and secure its monopoly.”
Google plans to appeal the ruling.
The company’s President of Global Affairs, Kent Walker, said in a response to the ruling that the “decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”
“We appreciate the Court’s finding that Google is ‘the industry’s highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users,’ that Google ‘has long been the best search engine, particularly on mobile devices,’ ‘has continued to innovate in search’ and that ‘Apple and Mozilla occasionally assess Google’s search quality relative to its rivals and find Google’s to be superior.’ Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal,” he said. “As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
The New York Times described the ruling as a “harsh verdict,” saying that the decision is “likely to influence other government antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.”
