It might be a while before we find out.

A federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the US. “The market reality is that Google is the only real choice” as the default search engine, Judge Amit Mehta said in his decision, and he determined it had gotten that way unfairly. It’s a ruling that could portend big changes for the company, but we yet don’t know how big, and we might not for years.

Mehta declared on Monday that Google was liable for violating antitrust laws, vindicating the Department of Justice and a coalition of states that sued the tech giant in 2020. The next step — deciding on remedies for its illegal conduct — begins next month. Both parties must submit a proposed schedule for remedy proceedings by September 4th and then appear at a status conference on September 6th.

    • simple@lemm.ee
      40·
      4 months ago

      Google pays Firefox a lot of cash to be the default search engine on their browser.

      • Reality Suit
        8·
        4 months ago

        So now we need to make sure we keep supporting Firefox. I have a feeling that most people who can choose, do in fact coose firefox, and the majority of chrome users do so because it’s on their business or student computers.

        • pineapple_pizza@lemmy.dexlit.xyz
          12·
          4 months ago

          How does one support Firefox in a post Google paying them world?

          I know the Mozilla foundation takes donations but it doesn’t seem like those go to Firefox development. Maybe I’m wrong though.

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
            6·
            4 months ago

            Some of it does. But currently a lot of it doesn’t because they can rely on the google funding. You can also donate volunteering time to Mozilla projects you want to support like Firefox or Thunderbird

              • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
                4·
                4 months ago

                Yeah. The CEO class needs to be eliminated from the upper stratus of society. If you think monetary donations to Mozilla aren’t worth it as a result, I get it, and I’m right there with you. I don’t donate money. But also… In the browser space if money is what you want to donate, it might be the best route.

          • Reality Suit
            3·
            4 months ago

            I’m not sure, but non profits have made millions in the past, and they were supposed to pass the money on to someone else, such as the corrupt Susan G. Komen, but did not. So yeah, Mozilla could be supported by donations alone.

      • Karna@lemmy.mlOP
        5·
        4 months ago

        Do you really think Google will give up on their pole position because of this verdict?