Google loses big in antitrust case, judge calls company a ‘monopolist’ (Update: Statement)

Update, Aug 5, 2024 (11:40 PM ET): Google’s President of Global Affairs, Mr. Kent Walker, has released the following statement on this DOJ decision:

This 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. As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.

As the statement mentions, Google intends to appeal the decision.

Original article, Aug 5, 2024 (5:40 PM ET): Google has suffered a major defeat in court that could change the way it handles its search business. Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Android developer violated US antitrust law in its attempts to stay as the default search engine on devices and web browsers.

Back in 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Google of anticompetitive behavior. The DOJ argued that Google’s practice of paying companies billions to keep Google Search as the default search engine option is an antitrust violation. One of the biggest discoveries from the case was the realization that Google paid Apple as much as $20 billion for that default position while also sharing 36% of its search ad revenue from Safari with Apple.

In today’s court ruling, Judge Mehta agreed with the government’s assertion that Google’s actions qualify as monopolistic behavior. Additionally, the judge also agreed that Google collected consumer data to ensure Search’s dominance and illegally protected this monopoly with the ads that appear in Search’s results. According to Judge Mehta:

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.

While this decision has big implications for Google and how it conducts its business, it is not the only company that will be impacted by the ruling. As mentioned earlier, Apple was receiving billions from Google through their deal. If Google has to end this practice, Apple will lose out on all that money.

Although the judge has weighed in, Google’s fate is still unknown. A decision on how Google will be penalized has yet to be made. Of course, the tech giant still has the opportunity to appeal the decision, which we expect is highly likely.