The Google antitrust case: What does it mean?

One of the largest companies in this sector, Google currently facing its second large antitrust trial, focusing on its ad tech. Google has dominated the search engine market. It is the largest search engine in all major markets, excluding China and Russia. While Google is the only company being looked at, the outcome of this trial could have significant effects on the whole industry.

While known for its many different ventures in the tech industry, Google collects its most significant revenue comes from advertising. Globally, advertising is one of the largest industries. By 2025, estimates predict the advertising market will reach 1 trillion dollars globally. 

Last year, Google was charged by federal prosecutors, citing that the giant tech company has used large amounts of money to create a monopoly as the largest search engine globally. This has allowed Google to profit significantly from advertising on its search engine and corresponding pages. After Google was federally charged, one of its largest competitors, Yelp, also filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company. 

All of this comes from the August ruling, in which U.S. District Judge Amit Metha claimed that Google was anti-competitive in gaining search engine dominance. The defendant’s lawyers explained that Google’s practices are common in this space. They argued that the market is intense, and their practices have been better run than those of their competitors. Both sides of the testimony in the second case wrapped up this week; now it is time to await the final hearing. If the outcome favors the prosecutors, we could see an enormous change for Google and its strong hold on many markets. 

If Google were to lose this case, they could risk the consequences of being broken up. This would not be the first time that this has happened before; the largest and most well-known antitrust breakup was the breakup of the Bell system in 1982. This saw AT&T, the largest telecom company in the world, broken up into 7 smaller, completely independent companies. The last large tech case was the U.S. vs Microsoft, which made the company untie Internet Explorer from its computers. This ultimately led to the demise of Internet Explorer, which was discontinued in 2022.

While breaking up might be a stretch now, this could cause Google to relinquish its exclusive contracts and eliminate its licensing restrictions. If this were to happen, it would help open up the markets in which Google currently resides. This would allow competitors the chance to gain a share in the industry. Even though this case is based in the USA, it would have worldwide repercussions. Google operates in 219 countries and dominates most of them.

The two antitrust trials against Google are the largest the USA has seen in several decades. If the outcome finds Google anticompetitive and monopolistic, they could force the company to counteract their agreements to make the space more competitive. The judge’s final verdict and closing statements will be released in the coming months. Only then will we know the implications of this large antitrust case.