Google illegally secured a monopoly on the search engine market through exclusive deals, a judge ruled Monday, marking the government’s first major antitrust victory against a tech giant in more than two decades.
Washington District Judge Amit Mehta said Alphabet’s $26 billion payments to make its search engine the default option on smartphones and Web browsers effectively prevented any other competitor from succeeding in the market.
“Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search market and impede the competitive ability of rivals,” Mehta said in a 286-page ruling.
