[Ferret7446]

Does Google penalize sites for not blocking other bots? If not, then it is not Google "maintaining their monopoly", it is everyone deciding for themselves to only support Google.

The government forcing restrictions on companies that people choose freely is extremely dangerous and will definitely be used for political reasons.

[horsawlarway]

I would argue the takeaway here is not precisely that this behavior is "maintaining their monopoly", rather that it's incredibly strong evidence that the monopoly exists.

[zdragnar]

It's not a transaction, though, just a stated preference by third parties. It has no bearing whatsoever on the legal issue at stake.