Google illegally maintained monopoly over search, judge rules in major antitrust case

Google violated antitrust laws by paying rivals to default to its search engine, a federal court ruled on Monday in a major decision that will likely have implications for how a variety of tech giants operate.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit P Mehta, of the US District Dourt for the District of Columbia, wrote in his ruling.

The Department of Justice and a collection of US states brought the case against Google over its practice of paying companies like Apple and Samsung billions of dollars a year to have the search engine automatically handle search inquiries on their phones and browsers.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.