What happened
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Monday that Google illegally operated a monopoly over the internet search industry. The massive antitrust decision followed a 10-week trial in which the Justice Department said Google was using its market dominance to unfairly quash competition at the expense of consumers, advertisers and rival search engines.
Who said what
"Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," Mehta said. The decision is a "major blow" to the "bedrock of Google's empire," Yahoo Finance said. It's also a "huge win for the Justice Department and could have giant implications" for other major tech firms.
Mehta's ruling "focused on the billions of dollars Google spends every year to install its search engine as the default option on new cellphones and tech gadgets," The Associated Press said. Those contracts with other tech giants gave Google the "scale to block out would-be rivals" like Bing and DuckDuckGo, CNN said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland called the verdict a "historic win for the American people." Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said Mehta's ruling "recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn't be allowed to make it easily available."
What next?
Mehta set a Sept. 6 hearing to begin fashioning Google's penalties. The company said it will appeal the decision, a process that could delay Mehta's remedies for as long as five years, the AP said. Google faces a separate antitrust suit over its advertising infrastructure and "scrutiny in other jurisdictions, including the European Union," The Washington Post said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
A potential railway megamerger raises monopoly questionsThe Explainer Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern would create the country's largest railway operator
-
AMC hopes new ticket discounts will reinvigorate the movie theater industryIn the Spotlight The theater chain now has 50% discounts on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays
-
The FTC is pushing back against false 'Made in the USA' claimsThe Explainer The agency has dubbed July 2025 'Made in the USA' month
-
Higher toy prices from Trump's tariffs have arrivedIn the Spotlight Three out of four toy products in the US come from China
-
'Wrench attacks' are targeting wealthy crypto mogulsThe Explainer The attacks are named for physical coercion that can be used to gain crypto passwords
-
Trump is trying to jump-start US manufacturing. Is it worth it?Today's Big Question The jobs are good. The workers may not be there.
