Google loses antitrust suit, declared 'monopolist'

A federal court has ruled that Google illegally dominated the internet search industry

Google headquarters
Google abused its market power to remain the world’s default search provider
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.