DOJ wins Google search monopoly ruling judge finds Google illegally maintained monopoly in search

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rules that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in the general search and search text advertising markets, in the most significant antitrust ruling against a tech company since the Microsoft case in 2001. The DOJ had argued that Google's practice of paying billions to Apple, Samsung, and other device makers to be the default search engine shut out competition. Google paid $12 billion to Apple alone in 2019 to maintain its default status. The ruling opens a remedies phase that could result in Google being forced to divest its Chrome browser or Android operating system.