Google Ruled A Monopoly In Huge U.S. Antitrust Case

After a 10-week trial, federal US Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated antitrust laws in multiple markets.

After 10 long, gruelling weeks, Google now finds itself on the wrong side of a federal US antitrust case, as they have been found to have broken US antitrust law. Judge Amit Mehta’s decision to find the ruling in favour of the Department of Justice did not come lightly, as explained in the official court ruling (shared by The Verge ).

In the overview section of the findings, documents show that the case was in discovery for a much longer three-year period from late 2020 until March 2023. So, while the actual court proceedings have gone on for 10 weeks, the U.S. government unearthed 286 pages of information surrounding its findings. What’s striking about the findings is the blunt language in which Judge Mehta describes them.

Mehta explains, “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” after the admission of a whopping 3,500 exhibits to the courts. Mehta found Google liable for violating “Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

Section 2 reads as follows: “Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty” according to the US National Archives .

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland says, “This victory against Google is a historic win for the American people,” with “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”

While the ruling does indeed hold the tech giant accountable for the antitrust violation on US grounds, the Sherman Act was written in 1890 . The penalty for violating the act is USD 5,000 or imprisonment for less than one year, which is far less of a fine than the UK hit the company for back in 2018 . It’s worth mentioning that Google’s market cap is worth over $2 trillion .

While Google has been found liable, what happens next in this landmark case remains to be seen. CGMagazine will update readers on what’s next, as Google itself, nor CEO Sundar Pichai have issued official responses yet.