'The biggest antitrust victory in a generation': Stein celebrates lawsuit win over Google

A judge's ruling against Google in a nationwide antitrust lawsuit Monday was not just the biggest victory in decades for that type of consumer protection issue, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said Tuesday, but also a good reminder of the positive work government can do.

What was a loss for Google and its multi-billion-dollar advertising business, Stein said, is a major win for individual privacy as well as for competition in the marketplace. Ads should become cheaper to buy if Google faces more competition, he said, leading to savings for businesses that could hypothetically be passed down to consumers.

"We have all suffered degradation of our personal privacy because Google, given its dominance, is able to suck up more and more and more information about everything about us —and then market that information to advertisers — and charge all of us in the economy more money as a result," Stein said, calling Monday's ruling "the biggest antitrust victory in a generation."

The ruling found that Google has a monopoly in internet search, with about 90% of all search traffic. A key allegation of the lawsuit, which the judge's ruling focused on, was that Google maintains its monopoly in part by paying other companies — cell phone manufacturers, internet browsers and more — billions of dollars every year for them to make Google the default option for all their users. Google spent $26 billion on such payments in 2021 alone.

Google collects data on the millions of people who use its search function each day, storing their search history and activity for 18 months. It can then charge top dollar to sell that information about its users, and what they're searching for, to advertisers.

The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said the company intends to appeal Mehta’s findings. “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Walker said.

The years-long lawsuit against Google was backed by the Donald Trump administration, the Joe Biden administration and numerous state governments.

Such complex litigation requires the legal teams of just a few states to take the lead for the rest, and North Carolina was among those leading the lawsuit and its legal strategy. Stein praised his staff attorneys who handled some of the key work before and during the 10-week-long trial last year, and said the win should refresh confidence in government.

"A lot of times people feel like government doesn't work," Stein said. "The hard work of government takes time. ... But if you are persistent, and you are focused on what the ultimate goal is, government can work and make a difference in people's lives."

The U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division has recently taken on some of the biggest companies in the world. It sued Apple in March and in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.

The Biden administration has won some big cases, including blocking mergers of some of the world’s biggest publishers as well as JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines. It’s also had some notable setbacks, including in the sugar and healthcare industries.

Under Stein's two terms as attorney general, North Carolina has also taken on big companies in the tech, opioids and vaping industries. He also sued Google in a separate lawsuit against Google, alleging anticompetitive practices in its app store on android mobile devices, that ended in a $700 million settlement last year.

Stein, a Democrat, is running for governor this year against Republican challenger Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. The race to replace him as attorney general features two sitting U.S. Congressmen from the Charlotte area: Republican Rep. Dan Bishop and Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson.