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The
U.S. government has hammered away at Google in a trial that
started Sept. 12, arguing Google is a monopolist and illegally
abused its power to favor its bottom line.
This case, filed by the Trump administration, was the first of
five aimed at reining in the market power of tech leaders. The
second, against Meta, was also filed during the Trump
administration, while Biden's antitrust enforcers have followed
with a second case against Google and cases against Amazon.com
and Apple Inc.
In the non-jury trial, the judge will weigh whether Google
violated the law, and will later look at any punishment if
needed.
Witnesses from Verizon, Android maker Samsung Electronics and
Google itself testified about the company's annual payments -
$26.3 billion in 2021 - to ensure that its search is the default
on smartphones and browsers, and to keep its dominant market
share.
In his testimony, Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the
importance of making its search engine the default on phones,
tables and laptops to keep users loyal, saying: "We definitely
see value."
In turn Google has argued the government was wrong to allege it
broke the law to hold onto its massive market share, saying its
search engine was wildly popular because of its quality and that
dissatisfied users can easily switch.
Furthermore, despite Google's multibillion-dollar payments and
Pichai's statement, Google's lawyers have argued that being the
default has limited value and that users will not stick around
if they are unhappy.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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