A US judge presiding over the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, which accuses the tech giant of unlawfully maintaining monopolies in the internet search market, has allowed significant claims put forth by the federal government to proceed to trial.
The case, set to go to trial next month, had Google seeking summary judgment to dismiss all of the government’s claims. However, Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, whose decision was made public over the weekend, granted some aspects of Google’s request while permitting the remaining claims to move forward to trial.
Initiated in 2020, the Justice Department’s lawsuit targets Google, a company valued at $1.6 trillion ($2.43 trillion), asserting that it has misused its market dominance to hinder competitors. This legal action represents one of the most substantial challenges to the influence of Big Tech since the 1998 lawsuit against Microsoft.
Judge Mehta is also concurrently handling a case brought against Google by attorneys general from 38 states and territories.
Google responded to the ruling by expressing its gratitude for the court’s careful consideration and for dismissing claims related to the design of Google Search as raised by the state attorneys general. The company anticipates demonstrating at trial that its efforts to promote and distribute services adhere to legal standards and foster healthy competition. Google has consistently denied any wrongdoing in both the current and related cases.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong welcomed the decision allowing the states’ antitrust suit against Google’s search practices to proceed to trial. Tong accused Google of leveraging its dominance to enhance its own profits at the expense of American businesses, thereby violating antitrust laws.
Judge Mehta highlighted Google’s position as the largest US internet general search engine, a brand so widely recognized that it has become synonymous with the act of searching itself. The judge underscored Google’s substantial market share of nearly 90 percent in 2020, along with advertisers spending over $80 billion annually to reach general search users.
The US government, which initiated the lawsuit during the final days of the Trump administration, contends that Google unlawfully funneled billions of dollars each year to smartphone manufacturers (such as Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung), carriers (like Verizon), and browsers (like Mozilla) to secure its position as the default search engine for their customers.
Judge Mehta dismissed allegations from the states that Google had impeded users’ ability to access specialized search engines for specific purposes, such as Expedia for travel or OpenTable for restaurants. He ruled that the states had not demonstrated the necessary anticompetitive effects in the relevant market, noting that a company with a monopoly only acts unlawfully when its actions stifle competition.
The Justice Department did not provide an immediate comment on the ruling.
In late April, a judge in Virginia denied Google’s attempt to dismiss a separate antitrust case related to advertising technology, ruling that the government’s case had sufficient strength to proceed. The government has advocated for the forced divestiture of Google’s ad manager suite
