Google acted illegally to maintain search engine monopoly, US judge rules

Google paid billions of dollars to guarantee that it was the default search engine on smartphones and browsers, US District Judge Amit Mehta said.

In his 277-page opinion, he wrote: "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly."

Mehta found that Google violated section 2 of the Sherman Act, a US antitrust law.

It is one of the largest antitrust decisions in decades.

According to Google's president of global affairs Kent Walker, it will appeal the decision.

"This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available," Walker said.

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The decision is a significant victory for federal antitrust regulators.

Federal regulators have sued Meta Platforms, which operate Facebook and Whatsapp, Amazon.com and Apple Inc.

Over recent years, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, as well as European regulators, have scrutinised big tech companies for alleged monopolistic practices.

Mehta’s ruling does not state what penalties Google will face.

Google’s defence relied on the argument that the company provides a better service to consumers than other search engines.

The justice department first filed its case in 2020 but then joined attorneys from more than three dozen states and territories.

The government’s lawyer Kenneth Dintzer said that the trial was about "the future of the internet".