Judge says ‘Google is a monopolist’ in landmark antitrust ruling

We know that Google shelled out billions to be the default search engine on Safari. The tech giant is clearly proud of its search engine market dominance, and plans to keep it that way. For reference, as of July 2024, Google boasted a 91.02 percent search engine market share worldwide, with Bing coming in at a distant second with a 3.88 percent market share, and Moscow-based Yandex coming in at third with 1.36 percent.

Because of its practices to maintain its dominance over the search engine market, the US Department of Justice views Google as a bully, and in a new landmark decision today, what were accusations then are rulings now.

Federal court Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled today, Monday, August 5, that Google is indeed an illegal monopolist in the search engine market, adding that the tech giant maintains its dominance through anticompetitive practices, via The New York Times.

“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,” said Judge Amit P. Mehta.

The 277-page-long ruling also adds that Google’s dominance has the power to influence the way users shop, consume information, and search online, considering that it basically controls the digital advertising market, though the ruling did not provide a remedy for the tech giant’s actions. Remedies, which Judge Mehta will decide in a subsequent phase of the case, might include forcing Google to divest parts of its businesses or change the way it operates.

Key findings from the ruling

The court ruled that the tech giant uses illegal and anticompetitive practices to maintain its monopoly, such as paying the likes of Apple and Samsung billions of dollars every year to maintain Google Search as their default search engine, leaving other search engines, like Microsoft’s Bing, with no chance to compete.

The ruling also added comments from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who testified that if Bing exited the market, “there would be a real concern as to whether Google would even pay Apple for default status, given the lack of any other option at all.” It also revealed that Microsoft offered Apple 100 percent (previously believed to be 90 percent) of its ad revenue share (page 255), “plus guarantees,” to make Bing the default browser on Safari, but “Apple’s executives testified that Bing was never a realistic option to replace Google.”

The ruling also signals a potential shift in how tech giants are expected to operate in the future, with the likes of Apple (App Store dominance) and Amazon (e-commerce dominance) expected to be served next. Regardless of who’s next, Google is likely to appeal the ruling, which would lead the case to the Supreme Court.