The company Googleone of the giants of the internet, was found guilty of monopolistic practices, particularly with regard to its search engine after it imposed it through contracts as the default software on various devices. This is what a judge in Washington ruled on Monday (5/8/24)…
According to the documents obtained by AFP, the judge said that “after carefully studying the testimony and the evidence, he came to the conclusion that Google is a monopoly and acted in a way to maintain that monopoly.”
The fine to be imposed on the company will be determined at the next meeting.
The group had been accused of paying tens of billions of dollars, up to 26 billion. dollars last year alone to ensure that the search engine would be the default software on some “smartphones” and web browsers. Most of this amount was given to the Apple company.
“The distribution agreements signed by Google pre-empt a significant part of the search engine market and deprive its competitors of opportunities to compete with it,” the judge ruled.
Shares in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, fell to $160.64 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 4.61%.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement called the decision “a historic victory for the American people” stressing that “no company is above the law”.
Google declined to comment.