A federal court has found that Google illegally abused its market power to quash competition, in a landmark win by the Justice Department against Big Tech.
Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote in his judgment that Google, a unit of Alphabet, has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by maintaining its monopoly in two product markets in the United States — general search service and general text advertising — through exclusive distribution agreements with customer companies.
The case has been closely watched in antitrust law circles as the first of a string of cases by federal prosecutors against high-tech giants, as Washington antitrust enforcers argue that Big Tech has gotten too powerful and doesn’t serve the public interest. Lawsuits have also been filed against Amazon, Meta and Apple.
The Justice Department had asserted that Google violated federal antitrust law contracts requiring Google search to be installed as the default on Android smartphones, among other practices that prevented its rivals from competing on an even playing field.
Google had argued that users were free to switch their default search engine, and that it is easy to do so.