Beginning on Tuesday, federal regulators will aim to break up Google’s internet empire in the largest US antitrust trial in 25 years, posing a danger to the company’s dominant search engine.
Federal attorneys and state attorneys general will make an effort over the next 10 weeks to show that Google rigged the market in its favour by making its search engine the default option in a variety of locations and devices. Before the start of next year, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta probably won’t make a decision. If he finds Google in violation of the law, a second trial will be held to determine what actions should be done to control the Mountain View, California-based business.
Top executives from Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, and other significant technology firms are also anticipated to testify. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who took over for Google co-founder Larry Page four years ago, is most certainly one of them. Additionally, according to court filings, senior Apple executive Eddy Cue may be called to testify.
During the Trump administration, the Justice Department sued Google for antitrust violations, alleging that the firm had used its monopoly on internet searches to unfairly favour rivals. Government attorneys claim that Google pays billions of dollars a year to be the default search engine on the iPhone and on web browsers like Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox in order to safeguard its brand.
Authorities assert that Google improperly skewed the market in its favour by demanding that the manufacturer of a smartphone use its Android operating system in order to have full access to the Android app store.
Despite controlling nearly 90% of the market for online searches, Google responds that it is up against a lot of competition. Google claims that its competitors include both search engines like Microsoft’s Bing and websites where users can ask questions about what to buy or where to go, like Amazon and Yelp.
According to Google, ongoing updates to its search engine are the reason why users almost reflexively return to it, a behaviour that has long since rendered the term “Googling” synonymous with doing research online.
The trial starts just a few weeks after the company’s first investment, a $100,000 cheque from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, that allowed Page and Sergey Brin to launch their venture in a Silicon Valley garage.
A network of digital services centred by a search engine that processes billions of queries a day generates $224 billion in annual ad sales, which account for the majority of Alphabet’s $1.7 trillion market value and 182,000 employee count.
The antitrust complaint brought by the Justice Department is similar to the one it brought against Microsoft in 1998. Just as the internet was beginning to gain traction, regulators accused Microsoft of pressuring computer manufacturers that relied on its dominant Windows operating system to include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as well. This bundling method effectively eliminated Netscape’s once-dominant browser competitors.
Kenneth Dintzer, the senior Justice Department litigator in the Google case, and other team members participated in the Microsoft probe.
If the trial results in concessions that weaken Google’s authority, it might be hindered. One possibility is that the business may be compelled to stop paying Apple and other businesses to have Google set as the default search engine on desktops and mobile devices.