The tech giant has promised to appeal a ruling that the money it pays to make its search engine the default on numerous web apps has “thwarted true competition by foreclosing its rivals from the most effective channels of search distribution.” Judge Amit Mehta ruled against Google under the Sherman Act, the key U.S. competition law, in a 286-page opus following more than three years of proceedings. (The Logic)

Talking point: The U.S. government launched the case in 2020, while Donald Trump was president, and followed up with a suit against Facebook (now Meta); Joe Biden’s administration has filed Big Tech competition suits against Apple and Amazon, plus a separate case against Google as an advertising broker. Mehta found that Google spends billions to keep competitors out of the powerful default spot on multiple browsers and devices. That’s reduced everyone else’s incentive to invest and innovate in search, Mehta ruled.