“Google’s distribution agreements are exclusive and have anticompetitive effects,” Judge Amit Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in his nearly 300-page court ruling.
Mehta cited Google’s exclusive distribution agreements with browser developers, smartphone makers, and wireless carriers.
The biggest partner in those deals is Apple , which receives an undisclosed percentage of Google’s ad revenue from the searches that happen on iPhones and in Apple’s Safari browser. The arrangement led to a $20 billion payment from Google to Apple in 2022, according to court filings. The number is likely larger today. – Barron’s
Global Macro Monitor 
So given the way capitalism works, there is no incentive to keep prices down when one company controls the vast majority of any market. It’s also said of the internet based economy that if you don’t pay for a service or product then you are that product or service. And it’s true, advertisers want your data and they don’t want to pay you for it. And the whole thing is so insidiously non-transparent to the user and in many ways the customers as well so that there is just no way to tell if your getting the shaft unless you are willing to spend hours reading fine print legal disclosures that detail in legalese how they do or might or might not infringe on your privacy and security concerns. It’s rather obvious that it’s way past overdue for a US regulatory crackdown.