(Adencronos) –
Google is guilty of violating US antitrust law through its search business. A federal judge ruled today, CNN reported. “After carefully considering and weighing the testimony and evidence, the court finds this: Google is a monopolist and has acted as such to maintain its monopoly,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote today. Google “violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” The judge points out that the company has spent tens of billions of dollars on exclusive contracts to secure a dominant position as the world’s default search provider on smartphones and web browsers. Those contracts have given it the power to block potential competitors like Bing and Microsoft’s DuckDuckGo, the US government alleges in a landmark antitrust lawsuit filed during the Trump administration. Now, according to the judge, that position of power has led to anticompetitive behavior that must be stopped. Specifically, Mehta said Google’s exclusive deals with Apple and other major players in the mobile ecosystem are anticompetitive. The judge added that Google also charged high prices for search advertising, reflecting its monopoly power in search. —[email protected] (Web Information)
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