In mid-October, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Google, one of the world’s largest and most influential companies. Claiming that Google has used deals with phone makers to keep its web search engine as the default on Android and Apple smartphones, the DOJ is being joined by various US states (all with Republican attorney generals) in the suit. Many other states are also running their own investigations of the company.

Google, along with the rest of Big Tech, has become a political target due to its rising power and wealth (the company is now worth over a trillion dollars). With House Democrats calling for action against the tech platforms and Donald Trump also angry at them, the company appears to be in hot water.

But US antitrust law is notoriously weak sauce, only able to bring suit against companies in specific situations. Having a full-on monopoly is not one of them. Previous US cases, in particular against Microsoft in the 1990s, suggest that the government may struggle to beat its well-financed opponent in court. And even if it did, the search market would only see somewhat more market share going to giant rivals like Microsoft’s Bing or Verizon’s Yahoo. There’s no path that leads to the rich, free competition that capitalism’s defenders insist it creates.