Google Search Is an Illegal Monopoly, US Judge Rules

Google is present 0 for 2 successful antitrust trials. US District justice Amit Mehta ruled connected Monday that Google has unlawfully maintained its dominance successful hunt by utilizing anticompetitive deals to support rivals from gaining traction.

The ruling follows a weekslong trial successful Mehta’s Washington, DC, courtroom past twelvemonth successful which the US Department of Justice alleged that Google had go the world’s astir utilized hunt motor by paying partners specified arsenic Apple and Samsung to beforehand it connected their devices and software. Google had attributed its occurrence to providing the champion work and argued that it faced important contention from the likes of Microsoft and others.

Metha sided with Google connected immoderate issues but rejected its wide statement that the institution held nary amerciable monopoly whatsoever. Last year, a assemblage successful national tribunal successful San Francisco had ruled Google’s Play app store an amerciable monopolist.

How Google volition person to set its concern successful airy of the judgments successful San Francisco and Washington are yet to beryllium determined. Mehta volition clasp a abstracted proceedings to find remedies successful the hunt case, and a justice is mulling projected penalties successful the Play litigation. But immoderate changes Google has made successful effect to antitrust scrutiny successful caller years person been costly.

Google and the Department of Justice did not instantly respond to requests for remark connected Monday.

The lawsuit earlier Mehta traced backmost to the accrued oversight of the tech manufacture nether past President Donald Trump. The Justice Department sued Google successful 2020 earlier Trump near office, and the suit past became the archetypal of respective against Big Tech companies to spell to trial.

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