Google Has Illegal Monopoly on Internet Search, US Court Decision

American technology company Google has suffered a major setback. A US court has said in its decision that Google has violated anti-trust law. It has spent billions of dollars to become the world’s default search engine and has created an illegal monopoly in internet search. This is the first major victory of the federal authorities against the market dominance of big tech companies.

This decision has opened the way for another lawsuit to decide on major changes in Google’s functioning. In his decision, Washington District Judge Amit Mehta said, “The court has come to the conclusion that Google is practicing monopoly.” However, this decision of the District Court can be appealed. This will give relief to the company that runs Google. alphabets Alphabet’s stock fell nearly 4.5 percent. Google’s advertising revenue accounted for 77 percent of Alphabet’s total sales last year.

Alphabet said it plans to appeal the decision. Google said in a statement, “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we should not be allowed to make it more accessible.” Earlier this year, iPhone maker Apple was sued in the US for allegedly creating an unfair monopoly in the smartphone market. The case was filed by the US Department of Justice.

The US government has tightened its grip on big tech companies. Earlier, legal cases were also filed against Meta Platforms, which controls the social media site Facebook, and e-commerce company Amazon. Apple is accused of making it difficult to run messaging apps and smartwatches on its smartphones. Its App Store’s policy related to streaming services for games has harmed its competitors. The company has also been investigated in Europe, South Korea and Japan for its business practices. Apart from this, rivals like Epic Games have also dragged the company to court.