Four years after the US Department of Justice opened an antitrust case against Google, the judge in charge of the case reached a decision: “Google is a fraud, and has acted as one to preserve its independence.”
Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which makes anti-competitive behavior illegal. The decision called for Google’s multibillion-dollar deals with Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla to make the search engine a default feature in their products, labeling the relationship “exclusive” and “competitive.” Judge Amit Mehta, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Although Google has said it plans to appeal the decision, the case is a significant change, according to Damian Rollison, director of market intelligence at AI marketing firm SOCi.
“[The] “The decision represents the strongest signal yet of how antitrust activity can ultimately impact Google’s business and the role the company plays in the lives of so many consumers,” Rollison told Entrepreneur.
Rollison added that he didn’t think Google’s dominance in search, more than 90% of the global market, would worry many people, but that dominance is now in jeopardy. Google is facing AI rivals, such as Perplexity and OpenAI’s SearchGPT, with their own legal challenges. There have also been user complaints about Google’s poor search quality.
“Google has argued and will continue to argue that its dominance is due to product superiority,” Rollison said. “This was true in the early stages of growth to become the leading search engine, but it is no longer a secure position.”
Rollison said Google has a history of favoring itself and its services in search results.
Related: US Justice Department Sues Apple in Court for Abusive iPhone Monopoly – Here’s Why
“When was the last time you went to a dedicated website to look up the meaning of a word?” Rolison asked.
Search results that provide information and answers to travel, shopping, and location queries “are served directly by Google to Google-owned search pages with Google-owned properties, which are monetized by the placement of Google-owned ads,” he said.
The world of Google’s optional search could change because of the decision: The tech giant may have to separate its search business from ads, for example, according to Rollison. Since the appeal and punishment are still to be decided, it may take months to know how this court decision affects Google.
Still, the decision sets a precedent for pending DOJ antitrust cases against Big Tech companies, including one against Apple.
Related: I Worked at Google for 14 Years – Here’s What I Had to Learn When I Started My Company
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