US court: Google abuses its search engine monopoly
Most cell phones and web browsers in the USA come pre-installed with Google's search engine. The company pays billions for this, and has now been sentenced.
(Image: Google/Daniel AJ Sokolov)
"Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act." This is what a US federal judge says in his ruling in the antitrust proceedings against Google USA et al v Google et al, which have been ongoing in Washington, DC, since 2020. The data company has abused its market power in favor of its search engine business. Google is therefore in breach of US competition law. It has not yet been decided what sanctions the court will impose. Google can take legal action and will certainly do so.
Sanctions could cost Google dearly. The court expressly points out that the company has not only abused its market power to expand and secure its US market share to around 95 percent, but also to charge excessive prices for text advertising around search results: the famous monopoly return.
The high market share itself is not illegal. And indeed, the judge concedes that Google has achieved market leadership through investments and smart decisions. However, Google had used the resulting revenue to buy exclusive pre-installation in web browsers and devices – to the detriment of other search engines and advertisers. In 2021 alone, Google paid 26 billion dollars for this, not least to Apple. This is almost four times the total other costs of the search engine. Google was unable to provide convincing justifications for its anti-competitive behavior.
However, the judge ruled in Google's favor on a number of points.
[more in brief]
(ds)
