US Court shames Google on its way to maintain Internet Search monopoly
In a ruling seen as a major blow to Alphabet, a US Court revealed how Google spent billions of dollars to maintain its “illegal monopoly” and “dominance” on search market
Washington: In a ruling seen as a major blow to Alphabet, a US Court revealed how Google spent billions of dollars to maintain its “illegal monopoly” and “dominance” on search market.
In his verdict pronounced Monday August 05, 2024, US District Judge Amit Mehta called Google a “a monopolist”, and termed its business style "illegal".
“The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Justice Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling.
"Google enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices”, the ruling said.
Justice Mehta noted that Google had paid $26.3 billion in 2021 alone to ensure that its search engine is the default on smartphones and browsers, and to keep its dominant market share, according to Reuters.
"The default is extremely valuable real estate," Mehta wrote. "Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share and make them whole for any revenue shortfalls resulting from the change."
“Google, of course, recognizes that losing defaults would dramatically impact its bottom line. For instance, Google has projected that losing the Safari default would result in a significant drop in queries and billions of dollars in lost revenues", he added.
Justice Mehta's ruling Monday is in response of the US Department of Justice's long-awaited anti-trust case against Google, alleging the tech giant has abused its market position in the domain of online search.
"Historic win"
US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the country's top prosecutor, hailed the ruling as a "historic win for the American people", acording to BBC.
“No company - no matter how large or influential - is above the law," Garland said in a statement on Monday.
"The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws", he added.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, said the fact that the case spanned administrations shows strong bipartisan support for antitrust enforcement.
Also Read: Ten takeaways from 64-page lawsuit filed against Google in US
"It's a huge victory for the American people that antitrust enforcement is alive and well when it comes to competition," she said. "Google is a rampant monopolist."
Jonathan Kanter, a top Justice Department anti-trust official, in a statement said, “This landmark decision holds Google accountable. It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.”
Google plans appeal
Google parent company Alphabet plans to appeal against the ruling.
“This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available," the company said in a statement.
“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, Google’s President of Global Affairs, said.
“As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use", Kent said.
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