Indian-American Judge Amit Mehta, along with two other prominent figures from the subcontinent, has become a focal point in a major legal and political drama following a landmark court ruling on Tuesday. The ruling determined that Google acted illegally to maintain its dominance in online search.
This case, initiated during the Trump administration, saw the Department of Justice accusing Google of spending billions annually on securing exclusive contracts with companies like Apple and Samsung to ensure it remained the default search engine. The case has been described as one of the most significant antitrust decisions in a quarter-century, with the potential to dramatically impact the tech industry and internet landscape.
Judge Mehta’s ruling, detailed in a 277-page decision, concluded that Google is a monopolist and has acted to sustain its monopoly. According to Mehta, Google commands an 89.2% market share for general search services, which rises to 94.9% on mobile devices. The judge also noted that Google’s dominance in media advertising has severely impacted traditional media outlets both in the US and globally.
Judge Mehta, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., was born in Patan, Gujarat, before his family moved to the US. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, hails from Madurai, while Lina Khan, the third significant player in this case, is a London-born Pakistani-American who heads the Federal Trade Commission and was appointed by President Biden in 2022.
The lawsuit against Google was filed by the Justice Department in October 2020, accusing the tech giant of anti-competitive practices. Although Trump and his supporters have criticized the Biden administration for its policies, they also express distrust towards Google, alleging that the company manipulates search results to harm Trump’s image while suppressing positive information.
The ruling, while a blow to Google, has drawn mixed reactions. Trump’s supporters have dubbed the decision a victory, calling him a “Google slayer” and branding the company as the “evil death star of Silicon Valley.” Conversely, some Democratic supporters of Kamala Harris are criticizing the ruling and calling for the dismissal of Lina Khan if Harris returns to power.
Despite the ruling’s impact on Google, which argued that its market dominance was due to superior service and consumer preference, the company’s search engine processes around 8.5 billion queries daily, solidifying its unparalleled position in the search engine market against competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo.
