The Patriot Post® · Google Loses Search Engine Monopoly

The world’s largest search engine was found guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta, who wrote in his decision, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”

Based on the numbers, it’s hard to disagree. Google owns more than 90% of Internet search engine traffic.

Google spent billions on deals with the likes of Apple and Samsung to ensure that its search engine was the default on the vast majority of smartphones. This move helped Google garner hundreds of billions in annual ad revenue. Last year alone, Google pulled in north of $237 billion in ad revenue. Compare that to just over $51 billion 10 years ago. Google’s smartphone deal appears to have a lot to do with its tremendous growth in ad revenue. At least that’s what the judge concluded.

This ruling also represents a big win for the Justice Department, as it is the first successful antitrust case against Google in over 20 years. And it couldn’t have happened to a “nicer” company.

So, what does this mean for Google going forward? And what impact might this have on users’ Internet experience?

Regarding the first question, Loyola University Chicago School of Law professor Spencer Weber Waller surmises, “There are no fines or monetary penalties in these types of cases, but the court will have to decide whether Google should be broken up in some way. More likely, it will order Google to eliminate the exclusive contracts and licensing restrictions that have reinforced its monopoly position for years.”

The answer to the second question is not as easy to suss out. One of the biggest winners, though, is Microsoft. As Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich notes, “Microsoft has underinvested in search for decades, but today’s ruling opens the door to a court mandate of default deals for Bing.”

However, advertisers will also benefit from this decision. As Judge Mehta wrote, “The only apparent constraint on Google’s pricing decisions are potential advertiser outcry and bad publicity. Google, however, has managed to avoid those pitfalls by ramping up its pricing incrementally … many advertisers do not even realize that Google is responsible for the changes in price.”

But is all this too little, too late? Is Google simply being punished for being the best?

Based on Google’s popularity and track record, there is simply no better search engine. While others compete and offer certain features, such as greater privacy and anti-tracking, neither of them has the sheer size and resources that Google does.

If only Google were more honest and less biased in favor of Democrats.

But with the growth of AI technology, Google’s days as the king of search engines may be numbered. AI-based search engines are the future, and Google has clearly stumbled out of the blocks in the AI development race.

AI-based search engines may one day cause people to stop saying “Google it” and instead say “Check AI.”