What are the risks of the antitrust lawsuit that Google lost?

“I lost”GoogleAlphabet’s subsidiary faced its biggest antitrust challenge when a US judge found on August 5 that it was illegally dominating the search market. was established 25 years ago.

Amit Mehta, US District Court judge for the District of Columbia, ruled that Google’s $26 billion payment to other companies to make their search engine the default or automatic choice on smartphones and browsing internet effectively prevent any other competitor from succeeding in the market.

Mehta’s decision followed a 10-week trial in 2023, the first monopoly case to see a confrontation between the federal government and an American technology company in more than two decades.

The case comes as part of several anti-monopoly measures taken by US President Joe Biden’s administration against major technology companies, in an attempt to increase competition in trade as a basis for his economic policies.

1-What is the case against Google?

The Department of Justice and prosecutors said that Google, whose search engine controls about 90% of online searches, paid billions of dollars to maintain a monopoly in the search market through agreements with business competitors. Technology Smartphone manufacturers and wireless service providers. And what was among these companies, and among them”Apple“and”Samsung electronicsHowever, they agreed to position Google as the default search engine for web browsing and mobile devices in exchange for a share of advertising revenue (subsidiary)”MicrosoftTo get the amount of data it needs to improve its results and challenge Google.

In his decision, Mehta concluded that Google illegally monopolized the market for general search services and search engine text ads – those that appear at the top of a search results page. “Google’s distribution agreements hide a significant portion of the general search services market and prevent other opportunities to compete,” Mehta said. He also concluded that Google, due to its monopoly, prices of text ads increase without restrictions.

2- What happens now?

Mehta’s decision focuses only on “Google“violated antitrust laws. He plans to file a separate lawsuit over how to deal with Google’s illegal use.”

Bloomberg had reported that the Department of Justice was considering whether to take Google apart.

He is also likely to seek a ban on certain contracts related to the heart of the matter, according to people familiar with the talks. Other options under investigation include asking Google to share more data with competitors, and putting measures in place to prevent unfair advantage in products. artificial intelligence.

If the Justice Department goes ahead with the bankruptcy plan, the Android operating system and the Chrome browser are the two units most likely to be abandoned by Google, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss negotiations. private. It is also looking to sell AdWords, the platform the company uses to sell text ads, according to one of the people.

If ordered by a judge, it would represent the largest forced bankruptcy of a US company since AT&T broke up in 1984.

3- What was Google’s response to the decision?

Google said it plans to appeal Mehta’s ruling. The company noted that the judge’s decision calls it “the best search engine in… USIt has “superior product quality” thanks to its investments in innovation.

While the company admits it pays to pre-install its search engine on mobile phones and web browsing, it says those deals are harm, comparing them to those grain companies that are on strike with grocery stores for prime shelf space. Google representatives have repeatedly said that users can reach competitors if they want to do so “with one click.”

4- What are the laws against trust?

These laws aim to protect competition in trade. Although American law does not prevent an entity from being large and powerful; Achieving a monopoly position as a result of superior products or better management is a reward for market success. However, it is illegal for a dominant company to take predatory measures to stop competitors who may threaten its dominance. Any attempts to maintain this monopoly position without legal support will be subject to criticism and prosecution by antitrust law enforcement authorities, and may result in penalties or dissolution.

5- What other antitrust issues does Google face?

· Texas led 16 states in addition to Puerto Rico in filing a lawsuit against Google in 2020, claiming it had a monopoly on basic online advertising technology. Next March will be set as the date for this trial.

· The Department of Justice filed a separate lawsuit against Google over its ad technology business in January 2023. That case is set to go to trial in September.

· A federal jury found that Google was illegally trying to maintain a monopoly on app distribution through its Google Play app store on mobile devices. I asked for companyEpic Games“, the publisher of the video game “Fortnite”, which filed the lawsuit, asked the court to issue an order to “Google” to allow users to download applications from anywhere they choose and to give developers the freedom to choose how to accept payments But “Google” is against the proposed solution, and the judge in the case has yet to rule.

· More than 30 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google in July 2021, saying it illegally abused its power to sell and distribute apps through its Google Play store on mobile devices. Google temporarily settled this case for $700 million, but a federal judge has not yet approved the deal amid concerns that it does not resolve the alleged anti-competitive behavior.

Europebasically. Since 2010, when the European Commission received the first official complaint against Google’s competitive practices, the company has been subject to three penalties worth more than 8 billion euros ($8.6 billion). Google continues its legal efforts to fight these fines, including a historic penalty of 4.34 billion euros for how it manages the Android mobile operating system. In June, he led European Union Additional charges against Google, accusing it of favoring its ad tech business at the expense of its ad tech rivals, advertisers and online publishers, and ordering it to abandon the entire unit.

In March, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act came into effect, affecting Google and other major companies that the bloc considers “gatekeepers” to the online economy. By law, these companies may not favor their own services over those of competitors on their platforms, and are prohibited from combining personal data across their various services, as well as be prohibited from using the data they collect from third platforms. party merchants to compete against them. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has opened an investigation into whether Google is complying with new rules regarding its app store and search engine.

7- What other antitrust cases is the Biden administration bringing?

The Biden administration has accelerated an antitrust crackdown that began under the former president Donald Trump. In the final months of the Trump administration, the Department of Justice filed the first lawsuit against Google, and the Federal Trade Commission sued Facebook, accusing it of maintaining a monopoly on networks. personal social in part by acquiring competitors Instagram and Facebook “; The Federal Trade Commission is trying to “Meta PlatformsFacebook’s parent company.

The actions, pursued by Biden officials, are the biggest antitrust moves against major technology companies since the United States sued Microsoft in the 1990s, leading to an eventual settlement in which the company to stop some business practices.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission sued…Amazon.com“To control online shopping services by reducing quality for customers and imposing additional costs on retailers. In March, the Department of Justice sued Apple for preventing competitors from accessing hardware and software features on their popular devices.