"The Google of today is a monopoly gatekeeper for the internet," said the United States government, in its antitrust lawsuit against the technology giant filed on Tuesday, beginning perhaps the biggest monopoly case of this century. The lawsuit accuses Google, with a market valuation of $1 trillion (a figure that dwarves the economies of many countries), of using anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopoly. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and eleven states (all run by Republican administrations) have accused Google of monopolistic practices in the markets of search engines and digital advertising. The DoJ is asking for the break-up of Google as a measure to foster competition in the market. The investigation against Google has been long underway, and is a part of the larger scrutiny by the US government into Big Tech — a popular term used to refer to companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The legislative branch of the government has questioned Big Tech CEOs in high-profile hearings in recent months. Subsequently, the House Judiciary Committee had recently called for a radical overhaul of antitrust law in the country. Exclusionary deal for Search with Apple kills reach of rivals The suit alleges that Google expanded the reach of Search with its exclusive deal with Apple, which has not developed its own general search engine. Per the deal between the two companies, Apple makes Google Search the default on its Safari browser; on its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Siri and selection-based search feature Spotlight.…
