What Happened: According to a Bloomberg report, Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Monday that Alphabet’s payments to make its search engine the default option on smartphone web browsers violates U.S. antitrust law by effectively blocking competition in the space.

Antitrust regulators alleged the Google parent company has maintained a monopoly on online search and related advertising through $26 billion in payments to Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung Electronics Co and other smartphone makers over multiple decades for prime positioning on browsers and mobile devices.

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GOOG Price Action: Alphabet shares were down 4.58% at $160.72 Monday afternoon as broader market weakness drove several names lower, according to Benzinga Pro.

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