Washington [US], August 6: ABC News reported on August 6 that a federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in online search, a landmark ruling by the US Justice Department in its efforts to rein in technology giants.
Judge Amit Mehta said Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by illegally securing a dominant position in the search market by paying billions of dollars to smartphone companies like Apple to make Google the default search engine on their phones, essentially blocking any rival businesses from competing.
"Google is a monopoly and has acted in a manner that maintains its monopoly," Judge Mehta wrote in the ruling.
The decision came after a 10-week trial in Washington DC, as US Justice Department officials and dozens of state attorneys general sought to stop Google from using anti-competitive tactics and paving its way to becoming the world's leading search engine.
While the ruling does not provide any specific remedies, Mr. Mehta will now have to decide on the appropriate steps to address Google's monopoly. Observers say that the upcoming measures could include orders forcing the company to wind down its business practices or, more drastically, forcing it to sell some of its units.
Google said in a statement that it chose to focus on the positive comments the judge made in the ruling.
"This decision acknowledges that Google provides the best search engine, but concludes that we should not be allowed to provide it easily," said Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs.
"We appreciate the court's finding that Google is 'the highest quality search engine in the industry, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users,' that Google 'has long been the best search engine, especially on mobile devices,' 'has continued to innovate in search,' and that 'Apple and Mozilla have from time to time evaluated Google's search quality relative to competitors and found Google to be superior,'" he quoted.
He said the company would appeal. "Given this and the increasing number of ways people are looking for information, we plan to appeal. As this process continues, we will continue to focus on creating products that people find useful and easy to use," Walker said.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice praised the landmark ruling. "This victory against Google is a historic victory for the American people. No company - no matter how large or influential - is above the law. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws ," said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
A White House spokesman said "this pro-competition ruling is a victory for the American people.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper