Google Loses Antitrust Case: Judge Rules Against Search Dominance

Landmark Ruling in First Modern Internet Era Antitrust Case

Alphabet's Google Deemed Monopoly, Breaking Laws with Search Monopoly

In a landmark ruling, a federal judge has found Google LLC in violation of U.S. antitrust law, accusing the tech giant of monopolizing online searches and related ads.

The ruling, issued by Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia, marks the first antitrust decision of the modern internet era involving a technology giant. The case, brought by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on October 20, 2020, alleged that Google's dominance in the search market stifles competition and harms consumers.

In a 286-page decision, Judge Mehta found that Google maintained its monopoly through anti-competitive practices, including exclusive agreements with other companies to make Google the default search engine, unfairly demoting competitor's search results, and acquiring potential competitors to neutralize threats.