Federal Judge Rules “Google Is A Monopolist”

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From “100percentfedup.com”

A federal judge ruled Monday that Google ‘has exercised monopoly power’ and violated antitrust law.

“After a lengthy anti-trust trial, a federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in both search and advertising,” Sean Davis, CEO of The Federalist, commented.

“The ruling, made by the District of Columbia’s Judge Amit Mehta, sided with the US Justice Department and a group of states in a set of cases alleging the tech giant abused its dominance in online search,” Yahoo Finance reports.

“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. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act,” Mehta wrote.

“Specifically, the court holds that (1) there are relevant product markets for general search services and general search text ads; (2) Google has monopoly power in those markets,” the ruling noted.

“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,” it added.

Yahoo Finance reports:

The findings, if upheld, could outlaw contracts that for years all but assured Google’s dominance.

Google said it planned to appeal the decision, which it said “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”

Judge Mehta ruled that Google violated antitrust law in the markets for “general search” and “general search text” ads, which are the ads that appear at the top of the search results page.

He said Google was not liable in the market for “search advertising” because it did not hold a monopoly there.

The decision is a huge win for the Justice Department and could have giant implications for some of the other big names in the tech world.

That’s because Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta (META) are defending themselves against a series of other federal- and state-led antitrust suits, some of which make similar claims.

From The Verge:

It’s not yet clear what this ruling will mean for the future of Google’s business, as this initial finding is only about the company’s liability, not about remedies. Google’s fate will be determined in the next phase of proceedings, which could result in anything from a mandate to stop certain business practices to a breakup of Google’s search business.

Google plans to appeal the ruling, president of global affairs Kent Walker said in a statement. “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” he said. “As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”

“This landmark decision holds Google accountable,” DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter said in a statement. “It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.”

DuckDuckGo, whose CEO testified against Google in the trial, applauded the decision, but recognized the fight isn’t over. In a statement, SVP for public affairs Kamyl Bazbaz said, “The journey ahead will be long. As we are seeing in the EU and other places, Google will do anything it can to avoid changing its conduct. However, we know there is a pent up demand for alternatives in search and this ruling will support access to more options.”

Read the full 286-page ruling HERE.

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