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Search engine results on Google about the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump are coming up empty, leading the web giant open to accusations of election tampering.

In the most significant legal ruling against a major technology giant in more than two decades, a federal judge says Google illegally monopolized online search and advertising by paying companies like Apple and Samsung billions of dollars a year to install Google as the default search engine on smartphones and web browsers.

By monopolizing search queries on smartphones and browsers, Google abused its dominance in the search market, throttling competition and harming consumers, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta said in his 286-page decision. Google owes much of its more than $300 billion in annual revenue to search ads.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote.

In more terrific legal news, the Associated Press reported the shocking news yesterday that “Google illegally maintains monopoly over internet search, judge rules.” You don’t say.

The decision capped a years-old lawsuit filed by President Trump’s DOJ. In what AP called a “setback” for Google, Federal Judge Amit Mehta entered a whopping two hundred and seventy-five page ruling, longer than a normal novel, finding that Google has illegally monopolized search. Among many other things, Judge Mehta noted that Google spends almost $30 billion dollars a year to ensure its service is set as the default on nearly every device in the world.

“After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote. Google “enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices,” the ruling explained.

The order didn’t prescribe what happens next, such as whether Google should be broken up. (Yes, please.) But the court scheduled a follow-up hearing on September 6th to discuss the remedy. Google has vowed to appeal, a process that could tie things up for years.

But even better, commenters expect a whole new crop of class-action lawsuits citing the judge’s findings, arguing that advertisers were gouged by Google’s monopolistic pricing.

One wonders. Had Google not abandoned its original motto of “Don’t Be Evil,” might it have avoided the DOJ’s crosshairs? Once again, we see the example of a big corporation that decides to dabble in politics and then discovers what happens next. (Ahem, Disney.)

As a libertarian-minded conservative, I generally object to government meddling in markets. But there is a place for anti-trust laws, and I can’t think of a more deserving target of scrutiny than this particular search giant. Thus, it’s progress.

Google is an illegal monopoly according to a US Federal Judge. The thrust of the case — which began 4 years ago — is that Google has a monopoly in the search market (90% of US searches; 95% of mobile US searches). The judge says that Google initially created that monopoly through ingenuity, a better product and superior business skills. But it has since maintained that monopoly position with “a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution”.

Google does this by paying browsers (Mozilla), smartphone makers (Samsung) and telecom companies — usually through revenue share agreements — to be the default search option, which drives its massive digital ad business. These type of payments are deemed anticompetitive and now total $26B a year, with the largest chunk ($20B) going to Apple to be the default search option in the Safari browser.

House investigates Meta, Google over Trump assassination attempt info

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating Meta's AI assistant and Google's search autocomplete after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in July.
Chairman Comer sent letters to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai requesting documents on their AI technologies' design and potential censorship.
The committee aims to understand how information might be suppressed or modified by these companies, according to Chairman Comer's statement.

Google Growth Strategist Exposes Google’s Search Engine Manipulation For Kamala Harris’s Campaign

Dakota Leazer revealed that Google has been actively coordinating with the Kamala Harris campaign, manipulating its search engine advertisements to favor her in the 2024 election.

As previously reported, the Harris Campaign edited news headlines with Google search ads to make it appear major news outlets such as Reuters, CBS News, CNN, NPR and AP are on her side.

While these major news outlets are shilling for Harris, her campaign edited the news headlines without the outlets’ consent or knowledge.

Google Growth Strategist Exposes Google’s Search Engine Manipulation For Kamala Harris’s Campaign

Dakota Leazer revealed that Google has been actively coordinating with the Kamala Harris campaign, manipulating its search engine advertisements to favor her in the 2024 election.