Google has been illegally exploiting its dominant position to keep the lid on its competitors and curtail rivals’ attempts to innovate, a US judge ruled on Monday in what could be a game-changing moment for the internet, AP News reported.
US District Judge Amit Mehta, ruling after the search engine giant’s year-long antitrust trial, concluded “Google is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly”, the story went on.
Washington has been escalating it efforts to rein in Big Tech’s power during President Joe Biden’s administration and the case, the report continued, depicted Google as a bully that has carefully stifled competition to build a digital advertising behemoth that generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year.
Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said the company intends to appeal the case’s findings. “This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Walker said.
- By Sean O’Meara
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