In Washington, D.C., a federal judge ruled Monday Google has illegally maintained a monopoly over internet searches by paying billions of dollars to Apple and other smartphone companies and web browsers to be their default search engine. The historic decision comes after a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department and a group of attorneys general from 38 states and territories.
It is the largest antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. government against a major tech company since the DOJ sued Microsoft over 20 years ago. Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his ruling, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” We’ll have more on this after headlines.