US District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled this week that search engine giant Google is a monopoly when it comes to search.
Judge Mehta ruled in favor of the Department of Justice in its antitrust case against Google.
“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. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act,” Mehta wrote in his 286-page ruling.
Nearly 90% of U.S. search queries start on Google, and this increases to almost 95% on mobile devices, according to the ruling.
“Importantly, the court also finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits,” Mehta continued.
Google booked $147 billion in advertising revenue in 2021, according to the ruling.
But, the court did not rule that Google had a monopoly over search advertising because search advertising is not a market and therefore cannot be monopolized. A separate antitrust case against Google focused on its ad tech business will start in September.
Read the details and the implications of this decision for retail marketers on Multichannel Marketer’s sister site AdExchanger.
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