Court Rules Google Illegally Used Its Search Monopoly

It’s unclear what the tech giant will do next, but the ruling is a blow.

Federal Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google’s search engine illegally used its dominant position to stifle competition and innovation in a ruling that has been hailed as a landmark decision that could shake up the Internet and damage the reputation of one of the world’s most famous companies.

The court’s long-awaited ruling comes nearly a year after the Justice Department began litigating against Google in the country’s largest antitrust case in a quarter century.

After reviewing a mountain of evidence, including testimony from top Google, Microsoft, and Apple executives during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta issued a potentially game-changing ruling three months after both sides presented their closing arguments in early May.

“After careful consideration and weighing of the testimony and evidence, the Court finds that Google is a monopolist and has acted as a monopolist to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling. He said Google’s dominance of the search market is evidence of its monopoly. “Google has an 89.2% market share in desktop search, which increases to 94.9% on mobile,” the ruling said.

What happens next is unclear. However, any further antitrust enforcement action would be fraught with lengthy legal battles. Right now, all that could come is a hefty fine.

Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said the company plans to appeal the ruling. “This decision acknowledges that Google offers the best search engine [in the world], but concludes that we should not be allowed to make it easily accessible,” Walker said.