"Creating a wall"

US judge: Google has a monopoly on internet searches

The lawsuit was filed because the Google search engine is set as the default in the Safari browser on iPhones, among other things.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Confidence)

Google has lost an important competition case in the USA. The case concerns the deals that allow Google's search engine to be set as the default in web browsers. A judge in the capital Washington ruled that the internet giant had a monopoly - and had sealed it off from competition.

Google intends to appeal against the decision. The US Department of Justice and dozens of US states had filed a lawsuit against Google.

Google has "created a wall"for the US government
The US government argued that Google had "created a wall around its search engine monopoly" with this practice. For example, Apple received billions from Google for setting the company's search engine as the default in the Safari browser on the iPhone. Although users can select a different search engine at any time, many stick with the default setting. Google countered in the lawsuit that users use Google because they are satisfied with the quality of the search results.

In a reaction to the ruling, Google emphasized that the judge had repeatedly acknowledged that the company provides the best search engine. At the same time, however, the court came to the conclusion that Google was not allowed to make it easily accessible.

26.3 billion US dollars per year
The judge noted that Google has paid around 26.3 billion dollars in 2021 to ensure that its search is used by default on smartphones and browsers and to maintain its dominant market share.

"The court concludes that Google is a monopolist and has acted as such to maintain its monopoly," said District Judge Amit Mehta. The ruling paves the way for a second trial concerning possible restrictions.

This could include a request to the Alphabet subsidiary to stop paying smartphone manufacturers billions of dollars a year to set Google as the default search engine on new phones.

Google controls around 90 percent of the global internet search engine market and generates massive revenues from the advertising business via its search engine.

The lawsuit was filed while Donald Trump was still president. The government of Trump's successor Joe Biden continued the proceedings.