US authorities seek to increase competition in the online search industry.

American tech giant Google broke the law by establishing a monopoly on online searches, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

The case, brought by the US Department of Justice in 2020, alleged that Google maintained its dominance in the search market by creating barriers to entry for other providers.

”After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” states the ruling issued by US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Google “enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices,” the ruling reads.

Google has paid billions of dollars to device manufacturers to ensure its position as the default search engine on smartphones and browsers, Judge Amit Mehta said.

The Department of Justice has hailed the decision as “an historic win for the American people,” noting that “no company – no matter how large or influential – is above the law.”

The ruling “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine,” Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google’s parent company Alphabet, said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). The company plans to appeal, Walker added.

Google also faces a separate lawsuit over its advertising technology, scheduled for trial in September.