Court begins hearings on antitrust case against Google’s market control

Hearings have officially begun in a U.S. federal court to determine the future of Google’s dominance in the search engine market.

According to the recent article the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is pushing for aggressive measures to restore competition, including the forced sale of Google's Chrome browser, the termination of agreements that make Google the default search engine on smartphones, and ensuring that Google shares its data with competitors.

Judge Amit Mehta, who had previously ruled that Google's monopoly on online search was illegal, is overseeing the case and will hear arguments from both sides for the next three weeks.

DOJ representative David Dahlquist remarked that the case presents an opportunity to "end a monopoly that controls the internet for an entire generation." 

The DOJ’s approach builds on a recent victory in a similar case regarding Google’s advertising practices.

The DOJ’s lawsuit accuses Google, which controls 90% of the global search market, of stifling competition through years of anti-competitive behaviour. One major revelation in 2023 revealed that Google pays Apple more than $20 billion annually to maintain its position as the default search engine on Apple’s Safari browser, a practice the DOJ argues has prevented other competitors from gaining traction.

In response, Google has dismissed the DOJ’s proposed remedies, calling them a “wish list” from its competitors. Google’s lawyer, John Schmidtline, argued that the proposed actions would "harm innovation" and stressed that the company faces growing competition from emerging AI startups like OpenAI. While Google has expressed a willingness to ease its agreements with Apple, it opposes any radical changes to its business model.

This legal battle is just one of several ongoing antitrust cases against major tech companies, and it could set a precedent for future regulatory actions against Big Tech. If the court rules in favour of the DOJ’s proposals, it could have far-reaching consequences, affecting billions of users and potentially reshaping the digital landscape.

The case began in 2020 when the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of unfairly dominating the search market, which is valued at over $1 trillion. The original lawsuit, filed alongside 11 state attorneys general, claimed that Google struck multibillion-dollar deals with companies like Apple and Samsung to ensure its search engine was the default on their devices' browsers. These deals, the DOJ argues, have effectively blocked Google’s competitors from accessing key markets.

This lawsuit marks a significant shift in the relationship between the tech industry and U.S. regulators. For years, the tech sector expanded with minimal regulatory oversight, but that era appears to be coming to an end. Google’s case is not an isolated one; other major tech companies are now under federal scrutiny. In the same courthouse where the Google trial is taking place, Meta is currently facing its own antitrust case filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC alleges that Meta has used its power to acquire rivals and eliminate competition.

Google is also facing another antitrust lawsuit. In 2023, a federal judge ruled that Google's control of the online advertising and ad-tech markets violated U.S. antitrust laws. This ongoing legal pressure highlights a broader shift toward regulating Big Tech, and the outcome of these cases could have significant implications for the future of the digital economy.

By Tamilla Hasanova