Judge finds Google maintains illegal monopoly over online search

A federal judge ruled Monday that Google maintains a monopoly over online search and advertising in violation of antitrust law in a landmark decision.

“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the opinion from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta reads. 

The ruling largely sides with the Justice Department and the coalition of state attorneys general who sued Google in 2020, finding that the tech giant has monopoly power in general search services and general search text ads.

Mehta found that Google unlawfully maintains its monopoly in these two markets through exclusive agreements with partners, like Apple, that ensure it is the default search engine on their devices.

About half of all queries in the U.S. run through default search access points covered by these agreements, which the judge noted forecloses a significant portion of the online search market.

This restricts Google’s rivals from accessing the scale needed to effectively compete with the search giant and has reduced both Google’s and its competitors’ incentives to invest and innovate in search.

The exclusive agreements also allow Google to raise the prices for text ads without “any meaningful competitive constraints,” the judge wrote.

“Unconstrained price increases have fueled Google’s dramatic revenue growth and allowed it to maintain high and remarkably stable operating profits,” the opinion reads. “Google in turn has used these monopoly profits to secure the next iteration of exclusive deals through higher revenue share payments.”

Following the decision, Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized in a statement that no company is “above the law.”

“This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people,” he said. “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has led efforts in Congress to reform antitrust laws, touted Monday’s ruling as a “huge victory for the American people.”

“For years Google has used its dominance in online search markets to undermine rivals and limit competition. I have long been calling for action. The Justice Department took this on and won,” Klobuchar in a statement.

“This is a huge victory for the American people and shows the importance of enforcing our antitrust laws and why I am advocating for competition rules of the road for big tech companies,” she added. “If they keep fighting any sensible rules of the road they will keep getting sued – and will keep losing.”

Kent Walker, Google president of global affairs, said in a statement that the company will appeal the decision.

“This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Walker said. “We appreciate the Court’s finding that Google is ‘the industry’s highest quality search engine … and that ‘Apple and Mozilla occasionally assess Google’s search quality relative to its rivals and find Google’s to be superior.’”

“Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal. As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use,” he continued.

Updated at 4:54 p.m.