“Google is a monopolist.” What has long been asserted by big tech skeptics is now the official position of the US district court for DC.

Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google broke antitrust law by spending tens of billions annually to secure default search engine status across major web browsers, including Safari and Firefox. This coordinated campaign resulted in Google securing 90% of the global search market, despite its engine increasingly answering queries with spam pages, AI gibberish, and product placements.

The court has yet to determine Google’s penalties. But this opinion marks a turning point in the ongoing fight to regulate Silicon Valley. It also gives reason for optimism about other pending federal litigation against the Magnificent Seven, including a separate justice department suit against – you guessed it – Google. More importantly, this latest decision serves as a compelling reminder that pro-competition agendas can prevail if only our leaders have the courage to take on the fight.

And in a presidential election year, one potential measure by which voters might assess the current candidates is their willingness to take on a sector that supermajorities of Republicans and Democrats think has too much power. For a potential Harris administration, big tech monopolists make for a clear and worthy antagonist against whom to campaign – and deliver a prosecutorial blow.

While Google might be the top search result for “antitrust violations”, the problem extends well beyond Mountain View. Amazon artificially uplifts its own products. Meta has gobbled up Instagram and WhatsApp so it can capture consumers with a........

© The Guardian