Letitia James Celebrates ‘Big Win’ Over Google

New York Attorney General Letitia James celebrated a “major victory” over Google after a court ruled it maintained an illegal monopoly on internet search engines.

“This decision is a major victory in our effort to ensure that all companies, no matter how powerful or influential, are held accountable when they harm others,” James said in a statement.

“For too long, Google has used its power to limit consumer choice in search, paying billions to ensure its competitors have no path to success, and reaping massive profits from its monopoly. As attorney general, I will not allow any company or corporation to exploit New Yorkers and their positions of power to increase their influence,” she continued.

James led a bipartisan coalition of 38 attorneys general in a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of “illegal, anti-competitive conduct.”

They accused the company of spending tens of billions of dollars a year on contracts with Apple, Samsung and other companies to make Google the default search engine on smartphones and web browsers.

On Monday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google violated U.S. antitrust law and created an illegal monopoly to become the world’s default search engine.

Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world, controlling about 90 percent of the online search market and 95 percent of the smartphone search market.

Newsweek contacted Google via email seeking comment outside of normal business hours.

On Monday, Kent Walker, global president of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc., responded to the decision in a statement to Newsweek.

He said: “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but it says we shouldn’t be able to easily provide it. We appreciate the Court’s ruling that Google is “the highest-quality search engine in the industry, trusted by hundreds of millions of daily users,” that Google “has long been the best search engine, particularly on mobile devices,” that it “continuously innovates in search,” and that “Apple and Mozilla occasionally evaluate Google’s search quality against competitors and believe that Google is better.”

“Given that, and the fact that people are increasingly looking for information in more ways than one, we plan to appeal. As this process continues, we will continue to focus on building products that people find helpful and easy to use,” the statement continued.

Monday’s ruling clears the way for a second trial to explore potential remedies that could include breaking up Alphabet. That could be a long process, likely involving multiple appeals in different courts.