Google is an ‘illegal’ monopoly – and the internet will never be the same

On Monday (August 5) a US federal judge ruled Google has violated antitrust laws, saying the organization

Google disputes the ruling. Its president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said: “this decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”

Nevertheless, the landmark decision has shaken the foundation of Google’s business, its search engine. For well over a decade, Google has been the dominant search engine in the market. The tech giant reportedly controls around 90% of the US online search market, leaving little room for competitors to make any claim.

Google has been able to maintain this dominance through exclusive contracts with companies such as Apple and Samsung, which enable Google to be the default search engine on their platforms.

These monopolistic practices have allowed Google to charge high prices for search advertising. Being the default browser across many platforms, this search engine has become the easiest, quickest and most reliable resource for most people.

This has reinforced the company’s online advertising business, leaving little room for competitors to offer comparable services at more reasonable prices.

What does this mean for Google?

A separate proceeding will be held to determine what penalties Google and its parent company, Alphabet, will face. However, it is likely the tech giant will be hit with both monetary penalties and enforced mitigations aimed at reducing its dominance.

Historically, fines have not been the sole method of enforcing antitrust laws as they do not demonstrate long-term impacts. This is especially true for a multi-trillion-dollar organization such as Google.

Some of the mitigations which