US federal judge Amit Mehta today announced his long-awaited decision on the case pitting the US Department of Justice against Google.
“After a detailed review of the witnesses and evidence, the court concluded that Google is a monopoly and acted to protect that monopoly. This violates Section 2 of the Sherman Act,” Judge Mehta said in his decision.
With this decision, the US Department of Justice has won a case of this size for the first time in antitrust cases it has filed to date. It was stated that Google, which lost a major case regarding internet search for the first time, may appeal the process after the case it lost today.
The Justice Department has filed two antitrust lawsuits against Google on the grounds that it controls more than 90 percent of internet searches and more than 95 percent of mobile search engines.
– “ANTITREST” CASE AGAINST GOOGLE!
In a statement made by the US Department of Justice on January 24, 2023, it was announced that an “antitrust” lawsuit was filed against Google in the Eastern District Court of Virginia with the attorneys general of the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia.
The statement alleged that Google used anti-competitive, exclusionary and illegal methods to eliminate or seriously reduce any threat to its dominance in the sector, while the company monopolized many digital advertising technology products.
The statement said that over the last 15 years, Google has neutralized or eliminated its ad technology rivals through acquisitions, and that the company has used its dominance in the digital ad market to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products and prevent the use of rival products.
The statement stated that Google had thus reinforced its dominance in the sector, and included the content of the company’s anti-competitive behavior. The US Department of Justice had also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020 for monopolizing search and search advertising.
(AA)