The historic antitrust case against Google is far from over, with appeals and remedy deliberation likely to continue for at least another year.

But Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta — that Google “is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” — should immediately benefit legislative proposals to help save local journalism.

Mehta’s ruling affirms that Google hasn’t played fairly, causing harm the government must address.

He found the company broke the law by maintaining its monopoly in search services and general text advertising in the United States, as alleged by the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of state attorneys general.

Unfair competition by tech gatekeepers is the premise for the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in Congress and state versions, including one close to passage in California.

These policies were bolstered by Congressional investigations that found Google and other dominant platforms exploit their dominance in ways that harm the local news industry, hindering its efforts to build sustainable businesses online.

With Mehta’s decision, it’s no longer easy to reject those reports as political, or to dismiss news industry complaints as sour grapes by plodding companies left behind by tech innovators.

“For years, Google has exerted its dominance, profiting off of the hard work and tremendous investments of publishers, while journalism struggles to survive — all during a time when people need reliable news and information more than ever,” Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, said in a release. “This landmark decision finally recognizes that this is unacceptable and unlawful, that Google must be held accountable, and competition must be restored to the marketplace.”

The trade group is lobbying for the JCPA, which was introduced by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar with Republican co-sponsors. It was advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 14-7 vote in June 2023 but expectations of passage before 2025 were low given the focus on elections.

Klobuchar issued a statement saying Mehta’s ruling “is a huge victory for the American people” but her office did not respond to my question about whether it will boost the JCPA.

Coffey told me via email that she is “cautiously optimistic about the current discussions taking place with lawmakers.”

California’s bill is closer to passage, after clearing the state’s assembly, but still faces intense opposition from Google and its allies.

Similar policies in Australia and Canada squeaked through but were softened by lawmakers sympathetic to the platforms and responsive to their ferocious lobbying.

But the conversation starts from a different place when Google is a convicted monopolist in its home country.

Google’s products are beloved and its contributions to the world are incredible but there are serious problems with its business practices.

If tech companies win by competing fairly, so be it. If not, and they break the law to maintain their stronghold, government needs to step in and make sure others have a decent chance to succeed.

Even more important to news publishers may be the next big Google antitrust case, over its dominance of digital advertising technology. It’s scheduled to begin trial Sept. 9.

If Google is also found to also be monopolizing digital ad tech, remedies should directly address harm to news publishers that, according to the DOJ, have been shorted for years by the search giant.

But the news industry can’t wait years for these lawsuits to finally resolve, especially with more layoffs and closures happening now.

Policies like the JCPA and California Journalism Preservation Act are needed to immediately rebalance the skewed relationship between local news outlets and the platforms they depend upon to connect with readers and advertisers online.

Axios layoffs: Virginia-based digital news company Axios is laying off roughly 10% of its staff or about 50 people, The New York Times reported.

Some affected employees are part of Axios’ network of free, local newsletters that combine aggregation of others’ work and reporting by a few staffers in cities served. Its two Seattle reporters are not affected.

Axios slowed the expansion of its local newsletters last year after missing revenue targets, Adweek reported.

CEO Jim VandeHei told staff the layoffs are happening as it faces “a fragmenting of reader attention, new rivals going after its business and talent, and artificial intelligence models capable of summarizing news,” per The New York Times report.

Tampa layoffs: The Tampa Bay Times, a prizewinning newspaper owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies, is asking employees to consider buyouts as it aims to reduce payroll by 20%. Layoffs will happen later this month if it can’t meet savings targets, the paper reported.

The paper made several rounds of cuts in 2020 when it shifted to two days per week of print delivery and temporarily reduced pay during the pandemic. Then it outsourced printing and cut more jobs in 2021, the story noted.

This is excerpted from the free, weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress. Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley is the editor of the Free Press Initiative, which aims to inform the public about issues facing newspapers, local news coverage, and a free press. You can learn more about the Free Press Initiative, or sign up for a newsletter, at https://company.seattletimes.com/save-the-free-press/.