A federal judge has ruled that Google is a monopolist with its search and advertising businesses.
After overseeing a 10-week trial in DC District Court last fall and two days of closing arguments in May, Judge Amit Mehta ruled today that Google violated U.S. antitrust laws by running a monopoly with its search and text advertising businesses. Judge Mehta found that Google had made it difficult for competitors to compete in the search market violating section 2 of the Sherman Act.
During the trial, it was revealed that Apple gets a 36% cut of search ad revenue generated by Safari. Apple Vice President of Services Eddy Cue also said that in 2022, Apple received $20 billion from Google to be the default search engine for Safari. During closing arguments, Judge Mehta mentioned these payments and noted that the size of the checks Google wrote to Apple were large enough to severely limit the number of companies that could compete with Google to be the default search engine for Safari.
