A judge has found that Google is a monopoly and in violation of antitrust law. Let’s pray that this ruling will open the way for unbiased competitors to flourish.

From Yahoo Finance. The bedrock of Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) empire sustained a major blow on Monday after a judge found its search and ad businesses violated antitrust law.

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The ruling, made by the District of Columbia’s Judge Amit Mehta, sided with the US Justice Department and a group of states in a set of cases alleging the tech giant abused its dominance in online search.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his ruling.

The findings, if upheld, could outlaw contracts that for years all but assured Google’s dominance. …

The decision is a huge win for the Justice Department and could have giant implications for some of the other big names in the tech world.

That’s because Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta (META) are defending themselves against a series of other federal- and state-led antitrust suits, some of which make similar claims.

The scrutiny is part of a wide-ranging effort by the Biden administration to rein in what it views as anticompetitive behavior across a number of industries, from healthcare to groceries to tech. …

As of June 2023, Google controlled 91% of the global search engine market across all computing platforms, according to Statcounter. On mobile, Google’s market share was even higher at 95%.

Nearly four years ago, in October 2020, when the DOJ and states filed suit, Google’s annual revenue was $162 billion, roughly half of its most recently reported revenue for the year.

The Google decision comes after a two-month trial late last year that included testimony from Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as executives from search market rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and DuckDuckGo.

The DOJ and 35 states, along with Guam, Puerto Rico. and the District of Columbia, accused Google in separate lawsuits of unfairly holding on to its market dominance in search, including search engines, search engine advertising, and search engine text advertising. …

Google’s disputed behavior revolved around contracts it entered into with manufacturers of computer devices and mobile devices, as well as with browser services, browser developers, and wireless carriers.

These contracts, the government claimed, violated antitrust laws because they made Google the mandatory default search provider.

Companies that entered into those exclusive contracts have included Apple, LG, Samsung, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Mozilla. Those deals are why smartphones from manufacturers including Samsung, one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, come preloaded with Google’s various apps. …

What do you think of this ruling? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from Yahoo Finance. Photo Credit: Alex Dudar on Unsplash)