In a historic blow to one of the biggest tech companies, the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. has ruled that Google is a monopoly. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Google paid billions to make its search engine the default on Safari and other browsers. The ruling means that Google can’t pay its way out of this one. On its face, the decision has nothing to do with Android, YouTube, or any of the other services that have helped grow the company’s market dominance over the years. Instead, the focus is on its oldest business: search. So, what does this mean for you? Once the dust has settled, you could very well open Safari, Firefox, or one of the many other browsers to a screen prompting you to choose a default search engine, rather than having the browser simply choose Google for you. While the choice might be a set-it-and-forget-it on your end, it’s not going to be a fun time for Google. Aside from the gigantic fines that are sure to come, it’s possible that the courts could force Google to break up, much like Microsoft was forced to break up in 2001. What is known is that marketers will be watching this case closely.
