Google had a bad day on Monday. A federal judge ruled in the first major antitrust case against big tech in over two decades that Google has an illegal monopoly on the search market. As a result of its pervasive presence on phones and browsers, the tech company was able to hike advertisement rates with few consequences. According to the Department of Justice, Google paid $26 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine for the masses.
“Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete,” judge Amit Mehta said in the case’s 286-page ruling.
