Google has been found guilty of violating antitrust laws in the United States. This is the first major victory of the country’s federal authorities in the fight against the dominance of large technologies in the market, Reuters reports.

A US court ruled that Google spent billions of US dollars to create an illegal monopoly to become the world’s default search engine.

“The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” said U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

He stated that Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 alone to have its search engine installed by default on smartphones and browsers, and to maintain its dominant market share. Google currently controls about 90% of the online search market and 95% on smartphones.

At the same time, Alphabet said it plans to appeal Amit Mehta’s decision.

“This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Google said in a statement.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the court’s decision “a historic win for the American people,” adding that “no company – no matter how large or influential – is above the law.”

The court ruling paves the way for a second trial to determine potential fixes, possibly including a split of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. This would potentially change the global online advertising landscape, which Google has dominated for many years.

However, the “remedy” phase may be lengthy, and appeals are possible. The litigation could last until next year or even until 2026.