Federal Judge: Google Is a Monopoly

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Today on TAP: The Justice Department just won its case against Google.

BY DAVID DAYEN, LUKE GOLDSTEIN AUGUST 5, 2024

Judge Amit Mehta of the D.C. District Court ruled today that Google violated the Sherman Act by buying its way onto browsers and devices and making it nearly impossible to avoid its search engine.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his 286-page ruling. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

The decision in the first major monopolization case in 25 years is a big win for the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, and reinforces the aggressive antitrust policies of the Biden administration. It shows that, in fact, law enforcers claiming that there was a new era of entrenchment and consolidation in the U.S. economy got it right.

The ruling has major implications for future developments in the tech industry, as the companies that dominated Web 2.0’s platform era are working to do the same thing with artificial intelligence. It also could affect subsequent cases being waged right now against Facebook, Amazon, and Apple.

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