Google Loses US Antitrust Suit On Search Deals for Defaults (3)

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Google has illegally monopolized the search market, handing the government an epic win in its first major antitrust case against a tech giant in more than two decades.

Judge Amit Mehta in Washington said that the Alphabet Inc. unit’s $26 billion in payments to make its search engine the default option on smartphones and web browsers effectively blocked any other competitor from succeeding in the market.

“Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete,” Mehta said in a 286-page ruling.

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