The US Attorney General Merrick Garland has described a US court’s ruling that Google has a monopoly of the online-search market as “an historic win for the American people”.

The ruling came in a competition case taken by the US Justice Department in 2020.

In his decision, US District Judge Amit Mehta said that Google had paid billions to ensure that it was the default search engine on smartphones and browsers.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the judge wrote in his 277-page opinion.

Appeal

A separate hearing will decide on potential fines or other remedies.

“No company – no matter how large or influential – is above the law,” said Garland.

Google’s parent company Alphabet said that it planned to appeal against the ruling.

The Justice Department has also taken a separate competition case against Google over its advertising technology, which has yet to come to trial.