Google loses massive antitrust case over search, will appeal ruling
Google plans to appeal a major antitrust ruling by Judge Mehta, targeting its monopoly in online search due to deals with companies like Apple.
Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain its search monopoly by paying companies like Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla billions to be their default search engine. In 2021 alone, Google spent $26 billion on these deals, with $18 billion going to Apple, which the government argues hindered competitors' ability to grow their own search engines.
The Department of Justice and 38 state attorneys general filed antitrust suits against Google in 2020, claiming Google unfairly blocked rivals like Bing and DuckDuckGo. The case, U.S. et al. v. Google, culminated in a 10-week trial, with the DOJ estimating Google's share of the search market at 90%, although Google disputed this figure.
Kent Walker, Google's president of Global Affairs, announced plans to appeal the decision, defending Google's search dominance as beneficial to consumers. Remedial actions for Google's behavior could include changing business practices or selling parts of its search operations, reminiscent of Microsoft's antitrust case outcomes.