Google has lost an antitrust lawsuit over its search arrangements on smartphone devices, with a federal judge ruling that the tech giant has illegally held a monopoly in search and text advertising over the past decade.
“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,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta Mehta wrote in Monday’s decision.
Google was found to have violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which outlaws monopolies, Judge Mehta added.
The tech giant was accused of violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act “by unlawfully maintaining its monopoly in three product markets by entering into exclusive agreements to secure default distribution on nearly all desktop and mobile devices in the United States.”
The court focused on Google’s exclusive search arrangements on Android phones, as well as Apple’s iPhones and iPads, saying these arrangements helped solidify the tech giant’s anticompetitive behavior and dominance over the search markets, according to a report by CNBC.
The U.S. government alleged in the case that Google had kept its share of the general search market by developing strong barriers to entry, as well as a feedback loop that maintained the tech giant’s dominance.
The case stems from a 2020 lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of bipartisan attorneys general from 38 states and territories who filed similar but separate antitrust suits against Google. The lawsuits were later combined to make one case against the tech giant.
Experts are weighing in with assessments on what the decision could mean regarding various topics, including elections, given the upcoming November election in the United States.
“This is a victory for Americans who want free and fair elections,” said Ambassador Ken Blackwell, chairman of the Center for Election Integrity at America First Policy Institute (AFPI).
“When Google allegedly manipulates search results to suppress results on issues like the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, including the iconic photo of him after the shooting raising his fist in the air with the American flag in the background, that is election interference, and should not be tolerated.”
The case is United States v. Google, No. 1:20-cv-3010 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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