Google's search engine is an illegal monopoly, U.S. Justice Department says

WASHINGTON - Google's preeminence as an internet search engine is an illegal monopoly propped up by more than US$20 billion spent each year by the tech giant to lock out competition, U.S. Justice Department lawyers argued at the closings of a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit.

Justice Department lawyers have said the huge sum is indicative of how important it is for Google to make itself the default search engine and block competitors from getting a foothold.

Companies like Apple testified at trial that they partner with Google because they consider its search engine to be superior.

The government argues that Google's search engine monopoly allows it to charge artificially higher prices to advertisers, which eventually carry over to consumers.

Google's lawyer, Schmidtlein, said the record shows that its search ads have become more effective and more helpful to consumers over time, increasing from a 10% click rate to 30%.

If he finds that Google violated the law, he would then schedule a “remedies” phase of the trial to determine what should be done to bolster competition in the search-engine market.