‘Google Is a Monopolist,’ Judge Rules in Landmark Antitrust Case

Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, Judge Amit Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business. Judge Mehta said that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta said in his ruling. The decision is likely to influence other government antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The last significant antitrust ruling against a tech company targeted Microsoft more than two decades ago. The decision is a major blow to Google, which had fiercely defended itself against the allegations. Internet search is a core driver of the company’s profits, and the ruling could have major ramifications for its future success, especially as Google spends heavily to compete in the race over artificial intelligence.