Western media outlets report that a federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the United State. “The market reality is that Google is the only real choice” as the default search engine, Judge Amit Mehta said in his decision, and he determined it had gotten that way unfairly.
The Associated Press (AP) says a judge on August 5 ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation, a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies.
The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta reportedly comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century.
After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta reportedly issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May.
“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,” Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling. He said Google’s dominance in the search market is evidence of its monopoly.
The Voice of America (VOA) says a recent study by the California-based investment company BOND found that Google's search engine processes an estimated 8.5 billion requests per day worldwide. That result was reportedly nearly double the number of daily search requests recorded in 2012. Google’s online advertising business helps fuel the majority of Alphabet’s $307 billion in yearly revenue.
The ruling reportedly could open the door for a second trial for the court to establish ways for Google to fix its operations to obey current laws. Some experts say one possible fix could be for Google’s current business structure to be broken up. Such changes could greatly reshape the current systems for online advertising.
Vox reports that Google has vowed to appeal the ruling, which it has framed as an attempt to make it harder for consumers to access a search engine they prefer. The appeals process could take years to play out, and Judge Mehta has yet to levy specific penalties against Google, which will be decided following a hearing in September.
