US judge rules Google has an illegal monopoly on search

A US judge ruled on Monday that Google violated antitrust law by spending billions to maintain an illegal monopoly as the world's default search engine. The ruling marks a significant victory for federal authorities challenging Big Tech's dominance. Google controls 90 per cent of the online search market and 95 per cent on smartphones, paying over $26 billion in 2021 to secure default status on devices and browsers, according to Reuters. Parent firm Alphabet plans to appeal the ruling. The decision comes as OpenAI enters the search market with SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine offering real-time internet information.