Court Rule Rules Google Was Illegally Maintaining Monopoly on Internet Searches
Jose Nino
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The United States District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled that Google’s business practices illegally hampered competition, thereby violating federal anti-trust laws.
The court determined in its ruling that Google kept an illegal monopoly over two domains of internet activity in the United States —general search services and general text advertising. Google violated the Sherman Antitrust Act via exclusive distribution agreements.
Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act was signed by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890. It prohibits ventures and ploys to monopolize.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the court’s ruling by proclaiming, “A federal court ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly by exploiting its dominance to squash competition and hamper innovation.”
“Google engaged in anticompetitive trade practices to monopolize internet search engines and advertisements,” he added. “I’m proud to lead this case and deliver another major win against Big Tech.”
Per the Associated Press, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta scheduled a subsequent hearing for September 6 to kick off the next stage of litigation.
The legal battle commenced in October 2020 when Paxton announced that the Texas government had filed a lawsuit against Google for using business strategies to halt competition for search advertising and internet searches.
In addition to the US Department of Justice, 10 states teamed up with Texas in filing the antitrust lawsuit, which includes Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, and South Carolina.
“Google’s anticompetitive business strategies have disrupted the competitive process, reduced consumer choice, and stifled innovation,” Paxton stated.
This is Paxton’s most recent victory over Big Tech. Toward the end of July, Texas obtained a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta, Facebook’s parent company. BLP previously reported on this settlement, which was the largest settlement acquired by a single state government and the largest privacy settlement secured by an attorney general.
Meta now has to pay out the settlement over five years.
Despite being dominated by establishment Republicans for some time, Texas politics has taken a slightly more populist turn with the likes of Ken Paxton using his AG role to combat the excesses of Big Tech. Other states should not only follow in Paxton’s footsteps but double down by going to war against rogue private actors.
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