On Monday, August 5th, 2024, a judge ruled that Google’s search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation in a decision that could shake up the internet and effectively disrupt one of the world’s best-known companies. The Department of Justice and several states filed antitrust suits against Google, alleging unfair practices that hindered search rivals like Bing and DuckDuckGo.
The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in over 25 years. The ruling is a win for the Justice Department, especially in an election year. It may also affect the Justice Department’s second antitrust suit against Google, which focuses on digital ads market monopolization.
After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Judge Mehta issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May.
Google was accused of paying companies, including Apple and Mozilla, to make its search engine the default choice on their devices and web browsers. Google reportedly paid Apple around $18 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine on iPhones. Additionally, Google shares 36% of search ad revenue from Safari with Apple. By doing so, Google maintained its dominant position in the search market.
It’s a major setback for Google and its parent, Alphabet Inc., which had argued that its popularity stemmed from consumers’ overwhelming desire to use a search engine so good at what it does that it has become synonymous with looking things up online – ie: how often do we say – just google it! Google’s search engine currently processes an estimated 8.5 billion worldwide searches per day, nearly doubling its daily volume from 12 years ago, according to a recent study released by the investment firm BOND.
Judge Mehta concluded that Google is a monopolist and has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The judge has yet to decide on remedies for Google’s behavior, which could include changes to how Google runs its search business. This ruling could have significant implications for Google’s business practices moving forward.
Google will almost certainly appeal the decision in a process that may ultimately land in the U.S. Supreme Court.
PC Magazine:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-pays-18-billion-per-year-to-be-the-default-search-engine-on-apple
Deliver David's Tech Talk to my inbox
We'll send David's weekly Tech Talk to your inbox - including the MP3 of the actual radio spot. You'll never miss a valuable tip again!
