(... and Google has violated the "Sherman Anti-Trust Act" for over a decade.)
QUOTE
=====================
‘Google Is a Monopolist,’ Judge Rules in Landmark Antitrust Case
The ruling on Google’s search dominance was the first antitrust decision of the modern internet era in a case against a technology giant.
Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business.
Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta said in his ruling.
==================================================
UNQUOTE
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/tech ... uling.html
=================================================
The impact of this could be far reaching.
Something along the lines of the breakup of AT&T (“Ma Bell”) in the mid 1980s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_o ... ell_System
Or the partition of Standard Oil, early in the 20th century.