Washington, D.C. — In an opinion unsealed today, presiding Judge Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit challenging Google’s search engine monopoly should be allowed to proceed to trial. In response, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Up against the largest corporation in the world and in history — one caught defying court orders to destroy evidence throughout discovery — the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of state attorneys general prevailed against Google today,” said Katherine Van Dyck, Senior Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Their case against Google’s search engine monopoly is going to trial.”

“Google maintains a 90-95% market share in online search not because it has a better product, but because it uses its monopoly profits to buy control of key distribution channels,” Van Dyck added. “Google has steadily degraded Search for years, cluttering results with irrelevant ads and links to Google’s other business lines. This is the heart of the government’s case: Google’s unprecedented scale has not been a boon to innovation; it is an ongoing threat that makes the internet worse for everyone. We look forward to the trial when the evidence of Google’s illegal conduct will be fully displayed to the public.”

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice and a group of 38 State Attorneys General filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Google for monopolizing the internet search engine and internet search advertising markets. The Antitrust Division contends that Google’s dominance in these areas is the result of anticompetitive behavior, which stifles competition, inhibits innovation, harms consumers, and erects barriers to entry that stymie new market players.

The lawsuit specifically alleges that Google perpetuates its internet search monopoly through pay-to-play agreements with search engine distributors, which effectively force users to utilize Google’s search engine. Google pays companies such as Apple, Samsung, Verizon, AT&T, and Mozilla Firefox billions of dollars to default to its search engine on their devices and platforms. These agreements purportedly prohibit the pre-installation of competing search engines, thus creating a barrier to market entry for competitors. The lawsuit requests for “as needed” structural relief to address the anticompetitive harm. When asked if a breakup of Google was being considered, a Department official stated that “nothing is off the table.”

In rejecting Google’s motion, Judge Mehta affirmed that the evidence amassed and presented by the DOJ and the States deserves a trial on the merits. That trial is expected to begin next month.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.