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The antitrust case against Google in the US resumed this week as the company began its defence of the allegations that it illegally cemented its monopoly in online search by paying to be the default search engine on browsers and phones. As a part of this, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify on Monday (October 30) in the ongoing antitrust fight over the company’s dominance of its search business and advertising.
Pichai is being called as a witness for Google and is expected to be questioned over the company’s investments that are aimed at keeping its search competitive, news agency Reuters reported. The government has alleged that Google paid billions of dollars to companies like Apple to be the default in search on their devices.
The government may also ask why the company pays billions of dollars annually to ensure that Google search is the default in smartphones. It is alleged that Google paid billions, reportedly $18 billion to Apple in 2021, to keep Google as the default search engine.
The government has also alleged that this helped Google become a giant in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits.
What Google said
Google has argued that the revenue share agreements are legal and that it has made investments to keep its search and advertising businesses competitive. It has also been argued that if people are dissatisfied with the default search engine, they can – and do – switch to another search provider. The company has also argued that the quality of results that search returns makes people choose Google instead of others.
High-profile testimonies
The Department of Justice vs Google case has already had a few testimonies, including that of John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, and former Google search executive. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also testified in the case.
Apple poached Giannandrea from Google in 2018. The executive, who testified behind closed doors, said that Apple had never agreed to refrain from developing its own search engine to compete with Google. He noted that Apple would have invested more heavily in its own search technology if it didn’t have a lucrative deal with Google and that building a search engine would have been an expensive undertaking.
Pichai is being called as a witness for Google and is expected to be questioned over the company’s investments that are aimed at keeping its search competitive, news agency Reuters reported. The government has alleged that Google paid billions of dollars to companies like Apple to be the default in search on their devices.
The government may also ask why the company pays billions of dollars annually to ensure that Google search is the default in smartphones. It is alleged that Google paid billions, reportedly $18 billion to Apple in 2021, to keep Google as the default search engine.
The government has also alleged that this helped Google become a giant in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits.
What Google said
Google has argued that the revenue share agreements are legal and that it has made investments to keep its search and advertising businesses competitive. It has also been argued that if people are dissatisfied with the default search engine, they can – and do – switch to another search provider. The company has also argued that the quality of results that search returns makes people choose Google instead of others.
High-profile testimonies
The Department of Justice vs Google case has already had a few testimonies, including that of John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, and former Google search executive. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also testified in the case.
Apple poached Giannandrea from Google in 2018. The executive, who testified behind closed doors, said that Apple had never agreed to refrain from developing its own search engine to compete with Google. He noted that Apple would have invested more heavily in its own search technology if it didn’t have a lucrative deal with Google and that building a search engine would have been an expensive undertaking.
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