Is the future of Google's search engine in jeopardy?

A US federal court has ruled that Google violated US antitrust laws in its search business. The ruling represents a significant defeat for the tech giant and has the potential to fundamentally change the way millions of Americans get information online and disrupt Google's decades-long dominance.

Google as a monopoly

In the opinion of Judge Amit Mehty of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Google is a monopolist that has maintained that position through anticompetitive behavior. The company violated the second prong of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The ruling criticizes Google's oldest and most important business, which has invested tens of billions of dollars in exclusive contracts to secure its dominance as the default search engine on smartphones and web browsers.

Anti-competitive practices:

Judge Mehta emphasized that Google's exclusive agreements with Apple and other key players in the mobile ecosystem were anticompetitive. Google also used its monopoly power to…