US judge finds Google violated antitrust law by creating an illegal monopoly on search

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00:00A landmark ruling that could change the landscape of big tech permanently.

00:06Monday brought a verdict in U.S. et al. v. Google, the presiding judge issuing a clear

00:12rebuke to the tech giant.

00:14After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court

00:19reaches the following conclusion.

00:21Google is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.

00:27The ruling follows a 10-week trial last year to determine whether or not Google broke the

00:32law by paying companies like Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla to make Google Search the default

00:38engine on their hardware and web browsers.

00:41According to the ruling, Google paid out $26 billion for that default privilege in 2021

00:48alone.

00:49The result?

00:50Google Search accounts for more than 89% of overall web search and nearly 95% on mobile

00:57devices.

00:58That dominance has allowed Google to boost paid ads, juicing its bottom line via unprecedented

01:03synergy with its targeted ad algorithms.

01:06That business brought in some $240 billion in revenues last year.

01:13The company insists its success is due to the overwhelming superiority of its product,

01:18a user experience that has turned the very name Google into a verb synonymous with online

01:24search.

01:25Google has already faced a number of antitrust lawsuits and penalties, both in the U.S. and

01:31Europe.

01:32The latest ruling means a new trial will be held to determine remedies, which could include

01:37injunctions against default search deals or even a potential breakup of the company.

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