US Judge Slams Google’s Illegal Monopoly, Rules Violation of Antitrust Laws

Google received a blow from the US district judge Amit Mehta, in a ruling on August 5. Against its monopoly in the online search market. The penalty might be imposed in the future hearing as the trial is still ongoing. 

The case was filed by the US Department of Justice in 2020 alleging illegal dominance that the technology giant has amassed over the years, as per the BBC report. 

It is also an attempt by the government to curb the dominance of a single player in the digital space and create a level playing field for companies with fewer resources. 

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” said the judge Amit Mehta in the ruling. The judgement came in one of the several cases filed against the global tech giant which holds nearly 90 per cent of the online search market. 

However, John Schmidtlein who represented google said, “Google is winning because it’s better.” Google is likely to file an appeal against the ruling. 

The tech giant was earlier accused of paying "billions of dollars" annually to companies like Apple, Samsung and others for pre-installing Google as the default search engine across platforms. In the hearing, the US government stated that the giant pays nearly $10 billion every single year for the "default" advantage. This helps Google in having a dominant position in the market.

“The default is extremely valuable real estate. 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,” said Justice Mehta.