A federal judge will begin hearing claims by the Justice Department and a group of states on Tuesday that Google abused its power to monopolize online search services. The trial is expected to take more than two months, after which the judge will decide whether Google has acted illegally, and if so, what to do about it.
Google’s hugely successful search tool has turned the company into a behemoth that spans advertising, cloud computing and the online video powerhouse YouTube. A ruling against it could limit the way Google can compete in the market and redistribute power in Silicon Valley.
The case also represents a test for governments that say tech giants like Google have too much influence over our lives online. The nation’s antitrust laws were first written more than a century ago, and this trial will show whether they can be used to rein in the fast-moving technology industry.
What was Google accused of doing?
The Justice Department says Google, which controls Nearly 90 percent of the global search marketillegally used partnerships with other companies to drive away competitors.
Thanks to multibillion-dollar agreements with companies like Apple, Samsung and Mozilla, Google has become the default search engine when billions of web users open a browser on their phones, tablets and PCs. The government says this has prevented other search engines such as Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo from amassing a significant share of the market.
The Justice Department also alleges that Google’s practice of illegally preloading its services on devices that use its Android software helped the internet company maintain its monopoly.
What does google say?
Google says its business practices are legal and common, and that when it pays to appear on Apple’s Safari browser or Mozilla’s Firefox browser, the agreement is akin to a cereal maker paying supermarkets to store its boxes at eye level.
It has also repeatedly claimed to have several successful competitors, including Amazon and TikTok, even though it does not operate general-purpose search engines.
Google believes that consumers have the option of using other search engines, but they choose them because they find them very useful.
What must the government do to win?
The government must prove that the trade agreements concluded by Google led to a significant reduction in competition. It will also have to explain how these business practices directly or indirectly harmed consumers — a generally important hurdle in antitrust cases.
The government must also convince a judge to reject Google’s argument that e-commerce sites like Amazon and social media services like TikTok or Instagram are in the same market as Google’s search engine.
What happens if Google is found liable for violating the law?
If Judge Amit P Mehta decides that Google violated the law, he will also consider ways to fix the situation.
The Justice Department has not yet said what it will ask the court to do if it wins, but solutions available under antitrust law could include forcing Google to restructure.
However, it may be difficult to find a remedy that does not force the companies that were not sued, including Apple and Samsung, to change their business practices.
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