• Nando Castelline

  Technical Editor

For the first time in 25 years, the US government will try to address the tech giant’s monopoly status in court. At the time, shares were oriented toward Microsoft. Now Google is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The case revolves around the question of whether Google illegally used its power in the search engine market to thwart competition.

As of today, the case will be dealt with objectively. At least ten weeks have been allocated for this purpose. It’s highly anticipated because the legal battle is seen as a kind of test. Can the government deal with big tech companies this way? There is also criticism of the power of Amazon, Apple and Meta.

The interests on both sides are enormous. For the US government, this is the first monopoly case to be taken to court in decades. Then also against a very large technology company, with a market capitalization of more than 1,600 billion euros and profits of 55 billion euros last year. This means: unlimited resources to fight the legal battle.

In addition, the shares also target the most popular part of the Internet: Google’s search engine. In fact, it’s been a verb for years. Google has it all over the world According to market researcher Statcounter 91 percent market share. It shows that the search engine is very popular among consumers.

That’s also why this is a big deal for Google. Although it may take months or years before clarity is obtained, the consequences could be enormous if the government wins. According to the New York Times Hundreds of in-house employees are working on the case, three major law firms are involved, and the company is spending millions on legal costs and lobbying.

Essentially, Google is accused of entering into exclusive agreements to guarantee the use of its search engine. These are agreements that prevent pre-installation of alternative search engines, or removal of the Google Search application.

Think about phone manufacturers or browser maker Mozilla, and of course the long-term deal between Apple and Google. The search giant pays Apple billions of euros to be the default search engine in the Safari browser.

The US Department of Justice, along with eleven US states, allege that Google “harms” consumers with these combinations by lowering the quality of search results, specifically when it comes to privacy, for example, leading to less choice and innovation. Google can also ask advertisers for more money, the ministry said.

Google’s chief lawyer, Kent Walker, He described the case as “deeply flawed.”. The company will argue that there are more ways to search than ever before. He mentions TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, Spotify, Amazon, and also ChatGPT as alternatives.

The tech giant will try to define the search market very differently in court. Not as a battle between, say, Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo — which position themselves as a privacy-friendly alternative — but as a battle between the many online platforms with search options.

In addition, Google refers to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s statement that the search engine It’s called “the best”.. Google also states that the agreements are not exclusive; Bing and Yahoo are also pushing Apple and Mozilla. Furthermore, Google mentions that it is very easy to change search engines and that Microsoft may also promote its own search engine in the Edge browser.

This case has been in the works for three years, and earlier this year another charge related to advertising technology was added. Additionally, Google has been locked in a legal battle with the European Commission in Europe for years. This has already led to billions in fines and mandatory adjustments.

This issue, in terms United States et al v. Google Hot, it could take years. First of all, depending on the ruling, there is a good chance one party will appeal. Given the weight of the case, it is also not unlikely that the proceedings could continue all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Beyond that, the question remains what Google should do if the government wins. Only when that happens will the judge consider this question.