Google has been found guilty of anti-competitive practices with its search engine, particularly through contracts that impose the search engine as an automatic program on devices, according to a decision issued Monday by a judge in Washington.
“After careful consideration of the testimony and evidence, the court has concluded that Google is a monopoly and has acted in a manner that maintains this monopoly,” the judge said, according to documents seen by AFP.
A new hearing is scheduled to determine the amount of the fine imposed on the company.
The American group is accused of paying up to $ 26 billion last year alone to ensure that its search engine is the default engine on a number of smartphones and Internet browsers.
The judge noted in his decision that “the distribution agreements signed by Google preempt a large share of the search engine market and prevent other companies from competing with it.”
The US Department of Justice considered this practice to be a violation of competition law, considering these contracts illegal, while its search tool has already become very dominant in the market.
During the trial in early May in Washington, the judge expressed doubt that the government had proven that the agreements did not comply with US competition law. But he also questioned Google’s arguments, asking how a rival search engine would be able to pay Apple the highest prices for the main position on its devices. Google asserted that searches conducted through Amazon, Facebook or even Expedia (a travel company) were in competition with its search engine, an assertion that the judge also disputed.
