Google loses its antitrust case in the United States: what are the consequences ?

© Unsplash/Pawel Czerwinski

Google, sued for anti-competitive practices, has just lost its case in the United States. As a reminder, the American government had launched proceedings against Google, attacking the contracts between the search engine and companies like Apple. As a reminder, Google pays Apple, Mozilla, and other companies to be the default search engine on Safari, Firefox, etc. “After carefully studying the testimony and evidence, the court has come to this conclusion: Google is a monopoly and it has acted in a way that maintains that monopoly,” said Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

For Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, this historic victory is a victory for the American people.“No company, no matter how big or influential, is above the law. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws,” he also said. In a response shared by Android Authority, Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said: “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we should not be allowed to make it easily accessible.”“We appreciate the Court’s conclusion that Google is ‘the highest quality search engine in the industry, earning it the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users,’ that Google ‘has long been the best search engine, particularly on mobile devices,’ ‘has continued to innovate in search,’ and that ‘Apple and Mozilla occasionally evaluate the quality of Google’s search relative to its competitors and find Google’s search to be superior,’” he continued. Google has already indicated that it intends to appeal.

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What consequences ?

For the moment, we do not know what the consequences of this defeat will be for Google.Indeed, the courts have yet to decide what measures to take against the Mountain View firm. But many hypotheses are already circulating on the web. For example, the Court could force Google to review its contracts with companies that use its search engine as the default search engine. Such a decision would not only affect Google, but also the organizations that benefit from its payments. But it would also be possible that, as in Europe, the American courts impose a choice screen, which would facilitate the selection of a default search engine on browsers.

Otherwise, the Wall Street Journal mentions an “extreme” possibility that Google will be forced to sell some of its activities, such as the Chrome browser or the Android operating system. But of course, for the moment, these are only hypotheses and to know what changes this decision of the American justice could bring, we will have to be patient.

• Google has been sued by the US government, because of agreements with Apple, Mozilla and other organizations, to position its search engine as the default search engine
• The firm has just lost its case, but indicates that it will appeal
• The American justice system has not yet decided on the measures to be taken and the sanctions against Google

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