Department of Justice Highlights Google's Search Engine Monopoly Behavior

Department of Justice Highlights Google's Search Engine Monopoly Behavior

Google's prominence as an internet search engine is an illegal monopoly supported by more than USD 20 billion spent annually. 

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- Google's supremacy as an internet search engine is an illegal monopoly backed by more than USD 20 billion spent annually by the tech giant to stifle competition, Justice Department lawyers say. 

Reported by AP News, Google, on the other hand, states that its existence comes from its superiority and ability to provide the results that customers are looking for. “It would be an unprecedented decision to punish a company that wins on the merits,” Google attorney John Schmidtlein said Friday afternoon while summarizing the company's closing arguments. Justice Department attorney Ken Dintzer told the judge that “today should be the day” for him to step in and stop Google's monopolistic behavior. 

He drew parallels with tactics used by Microsoft two decades ago that sparked a similar antitrust fight. The US government, a coalition of states and Google delivered their closing arguments Friday in the 10-week lawsuit to US District Judge Amit Mehta, who must now decide whether Google broke the law in maintaining its monopoly status as a search engine. 

Much of the case, which is the largest antitrust trial in more than two decades, revolves around how much Google gets its power from the contracts it makes with companies like Apple to make Google the default search engine loaded oncell phones and computers. At trial, evidence showed that Google spent more than USD 20 billion annually on such contracts.

Justice Department lawyers said the large numbers show how important it is for Google to establish itself as the default search engine and prevent competitors from gaining a foothold. 

Google responded that customers could easily click through to other search engines if they wanted, but consumers would always prefer Google. 

Companies like Apple testified at trial that they partnered with Google because they considered its search engine superior. (*)