News brief

Google and Meta face monopoly accusations in court. Google was branded an abusive monopolist by a federal judge for the second time in less than a year, this time for illegally exploiting some of its online marketing technology to boost profits. The ruling issued April 17 came after a separate ruling in August that Google’s namesake search engine has been illegally stifling competition. A historic antitrust trial involving Meta is also ongoing. CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on April 17 that he did not buy Instagram and WhatsApp to take out competitors, as the Federal Trade Commission alleges.

Is Google using its clout to maintain a monopoly over internet search? In 2023, we covered how an antitrust lawsuit had big implications for competition in the tech industry.

In 2024, we covered how the European Union, aligned with the United States, was moving to protect consumers from market dominators, including Apple, Alphabet, and Meta.