US Judge Amit Mehta said that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. For this, Google spent billions of dollars, took advantage of its dominance to crush competition and suppress innovation.
This decision has come after nearly a year of litigation in a case. After reviewing the evidence and witnesses given by Google, Microsoft and Apple officials, Judge Amit Mehta gave a 277-page decision on Monday (August 5). Google’s global affairs chairman Kent Walker said that the company will appeal against this decision.
Google dominance is proof of its monopoly
The decision found that Google’s dominance in the search market is proof of its monopoly. Google has an 89.2% share in normal search service, which is 94.9% on mobile. Judge Mehta’s decision highlighted the billions of dollars spent by Google every year to make its search engine the default on new mobile phones and electronic gadgets.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has described the decision as a historic victory for the American people. According to media reports, the next phase may now involve lengthy legal proceedings and appeals, which could potentially extend until 2026.
This court decision is a big setback for Alphabet
This court decision is a big setback for Google and its parent company Alphabet, which argued that their popularity grew from consumers’ excessive desire to use the search engine, which has become synonymous with looking up things online.
According to a recent report by investment firm BOND, Google’s search engine processes about 8.5 billion queries worldwide every day, which is almost double the daily search 12 years ago.
Alphabet’s stock gave a return of 21.75% in one year
Amid the decline in the global stock market, Google’s parent company Alphabet’s stock closed at 160.64 USD with a decline of 4.61% on the previous day. Its stock has fallen by 6.62% in the last 5 days and 15.67% in one month. At the same time, Alphabet’s stock has given a positive return of 10.47% in 6 months and 21.75% in one year.
