In a monopoly case considered the largest in 20 years, the US courts are considering today, a lawsuit against the company "Google" filed by the Department of justice and a group of US states, alleging that it illegally maintains a monopoly on internet search and related advertising markets with some companies

EDITED BY| HUXIANA

Economy  section -  CJ journalist

Washington - - September,12,2023

This is what the US government considers illegal, as it makes Google the default search engine on most American phones, and Google's separate agreements with manufacturers of mobile devices running the Android system prohibit the pre-installation of competing search engines or promotion if it chooses to receive a portion of Google's search revenue.

It started three years ago, after the Justice Department and a group of US states filed a lawsuit arguing that it illegally monopolized online search and advertising markets.

The US Department of Justice believes that "Google" dominates a market share of about 90 percent, in the field of search by a number of agreements signed with browser and phone partners such as Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and Verizon.

The government considers that this dominance of the internet and then the digital advertising markets, allowed "Alphabet", the parent company of "Google", to be one of the richest companies in the world, according to the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice.

According to official data, revenue from advertising based on search results accounts for almost 60 percent of the group's revenue, far superior to its other branches, from " YouTube "to" Android", and therefore its competitors, such as" Bing "from Microsoft and" Duck Duck Go", could not gain such a large amount of attention.

The case in the corridors of the US judiciary is looking at whether Google used illegal agreements to marginalize its competitors and harm consumers and advertisers in the process, as the Ministry of Justice accuses it of paying billions of dollars to Apple, for example, to be the default search engine in the browser "Safari".

Google was founded in a period of weak enforcement of antitrust laws, especially against technology companies that have developed innovative and often free ways to explore and use the internet, "he said.

In addition, efforts to regulate the work of Google and other technology giants under the roof of the US Congress have failed in recent years, and in the absence of such rules, the government is trying to use antitrust law to regulate competition on the internet.

The Justice Department says that Google's exclusive deals with Apple and others prevent competitors from effectively competing for search business or improving their products".

The ministry added that " Google closes all browsers and gets all queries, other companies like Microsoft cannot conduct enough searches to improve their products, which gives them a huge anti-competitive advantage.

She pointed out that Google's agreements stifle innovation, as it does not have to improve its search engine to maintain its market share".

The US Department pointed out that" Google " as a result of this monopoly raised the prices of advertising on its search results pages.

On the other hand, Google says that its agreements do not prevent its partners from providing other search engines, explaining that users of the "Safari" browser from Apple or the "Mozilla Firefox" browser can change the default search option in their settings.

Google added that on Android phones, consumers can switch from the pre-loaded search engine to other products themselves, noting that the use of a small number of consumers for this feature is not evidence of monopolistic practices, but evidence of consumers ' adherence to a superior product.

In theory, US District Court Judge Amit Mehta could order the dismantling of Google, but legal analysts consider this unlikely, as they say that "the most likely thing is to put new restrictions on how Google does its business, such as its ability to pay Apple, Samsung and others to be the default search engine on phones.

Paul Gallant, a technology policy analyst at the coin Washington Research Group, said that "this seems to be the most natural solution," adding that "the dismantling of the company due to illegal payments to equipment manufacturers is unlikely compared to the damage".

In the end, Google may face a great danger if federal Judge Amit Mehta rules in favor of the US government in a few months, as the giant company in the field of internet search engines will be forced to separate from certain activities to force it to change its methods.

The company has been fined more than 8.2 billion euros (8.8 billion dollars) in Europe for various violations of competition law, although some of these decisions are still under appeal.