A federal judge ruled that Google has illegally monopolized the search market, handing the government “an epic win in its first major antitrust case against a tech giant in more than two decades,” reports Bloomberg Law.

Bloomberg Law states that Judge Amit Mehta in Washington “said that the Alphabet Inc. unit’s $26 billion in payments to make its search engine the default option on smartphones and web browsers effectively blocked any other competitor from succeeding in the market.”

“Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete,” Mehta said in a 286-page ruling.

“By monopolizing distribution on phones and browsers, Google has been able to consistently raise the prices of online advertising without consequences, Mehta said.”

More here.