A federal judge on Monday ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation, the Associated Press reports. It’s a decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies.
The decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century.
Following a review of reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft, and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta issued his decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May.
Google “enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices,” the ruling said.
The ruling represents a major setback for Google and its parent, Alphabet Inc., which had argued that its popularity stemmed from consumer preference for the highest-quality product.
Mehta’s ruling focused on the billions of dollars Google spends every year to install its search engine as the default option on new cellphones and tech gadgets.
Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, says the company intends to appeal Mehta’s findings.
The potential outcome could result in a wide-ranging order requiring Google to dismantle some of the pillars of its internet empire, or preventing it from paying to ensure its search engine automatically answers queries on the iPhone and other devices. Alternatively, the judge could conclude only modest changes are required to level the playing field.
