Google in Monumental Monopoly Ruling

Four years on from Google being sued by the US Department of Justice over its control of about 90 per cent of the online search market, a US judge has ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly on its online search and the associated advertising. 

Building and Defending a Search Monopoly 

Following a ten-week trial, in a 277-page opinion, US District Judge Amit Mehta, said: “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” Following this landmark ruling, the judge laid out his reasons for finding Google guilty of violating antitrust laws through building and defending a monopoly. He highlighted how Google had spent spending billions of dollars to secure exclusive agreements with developers, carriers, and equipment makers to be the default search engine. For example, the judge said Google had done this using: