Google, before Justice, also in the United States. This Tuesday the trial against the technology giant begins for alleged monopolistic practices. That is the accusation of the US Government and it represents the greatest legal threat that the search engine company has ever faced.. The matter is being decided in the District Court of Columbia, with Judge Amit P. Mehta in the lead.
It is the largest US antitrust trial since regulators went after Microsoft and its dominance of personal computer software 25 years ago.. That occasion served to learn about the inside of the Windows company and something similar is expected now: that beyond its verdict, the trial will reveal how Google became the leader of Internet search engines.
Although Google products such as Gmail, YouTube and Chrome are enormously popular, none have become as indispensable as their search engine.. It is now more than 30 years old: the search engine was created by Larry Page and a colleague from Stanford University, Sergey Brin, back in 1998.
Who accuses?
The US Department of Justice, along with several attorneys general, is suing Google in a civil antitrust lawsuit for various violations of the Sherman Act, a US federal law that prohibits monopolistic business practices.. Prosecutors from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina and Texas participate, but the impact of the final result will be global.
What is Google accused of?
The lawsuit focuses on the contracts that Google signed with device manufacturers, mobile phone operators (such as T-Mobile or AT&T) and other companies, with which, according to the Government, it leaves its rivals little chance to compete. such as Bing (Microsoft) and DuckDuckGo.
According to the US Department of Justice, the technology company cemented its dominant position on the Internet with illegal contracts with companies such as Apple, Samsung or Firefox so that they installed its search engine by default on their smartphones and services.
What do prosecutors argue?
They allege that Google is “a monopolistic guardian of the Internet” that has used anti-competitive tactics to corner Internet search services.. “A general search engine must find an effective path to consumers to be successful,” reads the official documents, first filed in 2020, which argue that Google has “de facto exclusivity.”
Google's “exclusion agreements, including tying agreements (…) to block distribution channels and block rivals” with hardware manufacturers (particularly mobile manufacturers) and telecommunications providers violate the competition laws.
Does Google have that much power?
The company, founded in 1998 by Brin and Page, controls 90% of the internet search market in the US and around the world thanks to searches on smartphones, especially iPhones (Apple) and those that work with the Android operating system, owned by Google (in Spain, they make up 77% of mobile phones).
Google's search division generated revenue of €152 billion in 2022, which represents more than half of Alphabet's (Google's parent company) €264 billion in revenue in 2023.
How does Google defend itself?
The search engine company assures that the popularity of its search engine is due to the quality of its service. People don't use Google because they have no other choice, but because they want to.. It's easy to change the default search engine, we're no longer in the era of modems and CD-ROMs,” Kent Walker, Alphabet's chief legal officer, said in a statement.
Our success is deserved.. “People don't use Google because they have no other choice, but because they want to.”
For now, the defense has already scored a point in the pre-trial hearings when the judge of the District Court of Columbia dismissed the prosecution's allegations that Google offers self-preferential results in its searches.
How long will the trial last?
It is scheduled to continue until the end of November, before its first phase concludes, after which another round of presentations and allegations is expected.. The judge is not expected to hand down a ruling until early next year.
How did Windows do 25 years ago?
Launched in 1998, the US government's lawsuit against Microsoft ended with a settlement in 2001, after an appeals court overturned a decision ordering the company to be broken up.
What if Google is guilty?
If the judge rules in favor of the Government, the group could be forced to divide its activities or change its mode of operation.. If the District Court of Columbia decides that Google has violated the law, another trial will begin to determine what measures should be taken to stop the Mountain View (California) company.. But whatever the outcome of the trial, it is almost certain that the sentence will be appealed by one of the parties, which could lengthen the process for several years.
More lawsuits against Google
The team of lawyers of the search engine company will not lack work. In addition to the large Columbia lawsuit, Google is facing a class action lawsuit in San Francisco (California) where it is accused of violating the privacy and property rights of millions of users after extracting their personal data and copyrighted material without authorization. author of different websites.
According to the lawsuit, Google then used that information to train its artificial intelligence systems.. The plaintiffs say Google “has been secretly stealing everything that hundreds of millions of Americans have created and shared on the Internet” to develop its artificial intelligence products.
And in Europe
Also on this side of the Atlantic, Google faces lawsuits and lawsuits. They accuse the company of violating competition law and, due to its dominant position, producing increases that raise the cost of living.