A US judge has ruled that Google's payments to make its search engine the default on other browsers broke antitrust rules and led the company to becoming a monopoly in the space.
The case was brought back in 2020, and concerns the billions of dollars that Alphabet-owned Google has paid to companies that make web browsers and smartphones — such as Apple and Samsung — in order to ensure its own search engine is the default setting or exclusive option.
Those payments, totaling $26 billion in 2021 alone, cemented Google's monopoly on online search and helped it generate $146 billion in annual revenue in search ads across the year, according to a court filing.
In a 286-page ruling, Judge Amit Mehta noted that Google's dominance in US search queries was 90% by 2020, and 95% on mobile devices. The filing also noted that Google was the best search option, however.
"Google has not achieved market dominance by happenstance,” Mehta stated.
The company has “hired thousands of highly skilled engineers, innovated consistently, and made shrewd business decisions”, the judge noted.
“The result is the industry’s highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users."
That isn't all Google did, Mehta added.
"But Google also has a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution. And to achieve that, Google has signed agreements worth billions with browser developers, mobile device makers, and mobile operators to make sure Google is the default search engine. And that has led to a monopoly in search.”
After a nine-week trial, petabytes of data, and 3,500 exhibits, Mehta said the court reached the conclusion that Google was a “monopolist” and has actively sought to maintain that monopoly.
Google had argued that rival search engines simply weren't as good, and that the trial should consider other ways to search the internet, such as via social media.
What's next for Google?
Alphabet said it would appeal the ruling.
"This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Kent Walker, President of Google Global Affairs, said in a statement.
"As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use," Walker added, according to Bloomberg.
Beyond appeals, which could take years, a followup trial will next have to decide the "remedy" for Google's monopoly in search.
That could include an order to break up parent company Alphabet, though other solutions are possible, including banning Google from offering search deals or opening up its search system to other providers.
Evidence was presented during the trial of Google being forced to offer a range of search engine options in Europe, but that was shown to have little impact.
"Win for Americans"
The win was celebrated by US leaders. The White House press secretary said it was a "victory for the American people."
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said on X that it could herald further regulation of the sector down the road.
"This is a huge victory for the American people and shows the importance of enforcing our antitrust laws and why I am advocating for competition rules of the road for monopoly tech companies,” she wrote.
Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed that, saying the case was a "historic win", adding in a statement: “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws."
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said the decision would help hold Google accountable. "It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans," he added.
ITPro has approached Alphabet, but the company did not immediately respond.
