WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge ruled Monday that Google’s ubiquitous search engine illegally abused its dominance to stifle competition and stifle innovation in a seismic decision that could shake up the Internet and destroy one of the world’s best-known companies could hinder.
The long-awaited ruling by US District Judge Amit Mehta comes almost a year after the start of a lawsuit in which the US Department of Justice is fighting Google in the United States. greatest competition in a quarter of a century.
After reviewing reams of evidence, including testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta made his potentially market-changing decision three months after the two sides presented their positions. their closing arguments in early May.
It marks a major setback for Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc., which had steadfastly argued that its popularity stemmed from consumers’ overwhelming desire to use a search engine so good at what it does that it has become synonymous with looking up things online. Google’s search engine currently processes an estimated 8.5 billion searches worldwide per day, nearly doubling the daily volume compared to 12 years ago. a recent study released by the investment company BOND.
Google will almost certainly appeal the decision in a lawsuit that could ultimately end up in the US. High Council.
For now, the decision vindicates antitrust regulators at the Justice Department, which filed its lawsuit nearly four years ago when Donald Trump was still president and has escalated its efforts to rein in Big Tech’s power during President Joe Biden’s administration .
The case portrayed Google as a technological bully that has methodically thwarted competition to protect a search engine that has become the centerpiece of a digital advertising machine that generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year. Justice Department lawyers argued that Google’s monopoly allowed the company to charge advertisers artificially high prices while enjoying the luxury of having to invest more time and money into improving the quality of its search engine – a lax approach that harmed consumers.
Google ridiculed these accusations, noting that consumers have historically changed search engines when they became disillusioned with the results they were getting. For example, Yahoo – now a minor player on the Internet – was the most popular search engine in the 1990s before Google came along.
Mehta’s conclusion that Google has an illegal monopoly marks a new legal phase in determining what types of changes or penalties should be imposed to undo the damage done and restore a more competitive landscape.
The possible outcome could result in a sweeping injunction requiring Google to dismantle some of the pillars of its Internet empire or prevent Google from spending more than $20 billion annually to ensure its search engine automatically queries iPhones and other related answers internet connected devices. devices. After the next phase, the judge was able to conclude that only modest changes are needed to create a level playing field.
If there is a significant shake-up, it could turn into a coup for Microsoft, whose own power was undermined in the late 1990s when the Justice Department attacked the software maker in an antitrust case, accusing it of abusing the dominance of its Windows operating system. on personal computers to eliminate competition.
That Microsoft thing mirrored the one brought against Google in different ways and now the result could also sound the same way. Just as Microsoft’s crushing antitrust battle created distractions and obstacles that opened more opportunities for Google after its founding in 1998, the decision against Google could be a boon for Microsoft, which already has a market value of more than $3 trillion. Alphabet was once worth more than Microsoft, but now trails its rival with a market value of about $2 trillion.
In addition to boosting Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the outcome could hurt Google at a crucial pivot point that tilts technology into the age of artificial intelligence. Both Microsoft and Google are among the early leaders in AI in a battle that could now be affected by Mehta’s market-expanding decision.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was one of the Justice Department’s star witnesses during testimony discussing his frustration over Google deals with Apple that made it nearly impossible for the Bing search engine to make any progress even as Microsoft donated more than $100 billion. improvements since 2009.
“You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google,” Nadella said at one point in his testimony. “Everyone talks about the open web, but the Google web really exists.”
Nadella also expressed fears that an antitrust crackdown would be needed to ensure the situation did not worsen as AI becomes a greater force in search.
“Despite my excitement that there is a new angle with AI, I am deeply concerned that the vicious cycle I am stuck in could become even more vicious,” Nadella said on the stand.
In addition to this threat, Google continues to face other legal threats both in the US and abroad. any antitrust lawsuits brought against Google at home or abroad. A federal trial will begin in Virginia in September over the Justice Department’s allegations that Google’s advertising technology constitutes an illegal monopoly.