The US Justice Department has started a 10-week trial against Google, accusing the company of monopolistic practices in dominating the search engine market through its business partnerships, including with Apple, to ensure its search engine is the default on mobile devices.
Google is deprecating its standard Safe Browsing feature in Chrome and moving users to Enhanced Safe Browsing, which provides real-time phishing protection but raises privacy concerns.
Google previewed its defense against the U.S. government's charges of illegal monopolization, claiming that its distribution agreements do not harm competition and that consumers have the ability to easily change search engine defaults.
The landmark antitrust trial against Google marks a broader reconsideration of the notion that the internet is inherently open and self-regulating, as regulators seek to prevent dominant technology companies from stifling innovation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence.
Google is facing a historic legal battle against the U.S. government in a generational antitrust case that questions the company's dominance in internet search and its contracts with device makers, including a lucrative deal with Apple.
The Justice Department's antitrust trial against Google began with claims that the company pursued agreements to be the default search engine on mobile devices, while Google argued that its search engine's quality was the primary reason for such agreements.
The U.S. Justice Department objects to excluding the public from court discussions on Google's pricing for online advertising, arguing that it is essential information in the antitrust case against the tech giant.
Google allegedly paid billions of dollars to key companies to maintain its search engine as the default on computers and mobile devices, making it difficult for smaller rival DuckDuckGo to grow its market share, according to testimony by DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg at a trial investigating alleged antitrust violations by Google.
The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company's billion-dollar deals to be the default search engine on smartphones have created a monopoly, and if the trial is successful, Google may be forced to break up its various businesses.
Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue is expected to testify in court that Apple chose Google as the default search engine on the iPhone because it was the best product and that Apple has revenue-sharing agreements with other search engines, shedding light on Google's licensing agreements and the accusation of monopolizing online search.
Efforts to limit transparency and seal testimony in the federal antitrust case against Google have made it one of the most secretive trials of the past few decades, with more than half of the trial's testimony being given behind closed doors and major companies like Apple and Microsoft also pushing for secrecy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging users to disable certain Privacy Sandbox settings in Google Chrome or consider switching to Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari in order to protect their online privacy, as Chrome's Privacy Sandbox does not actually provide true privacy or function as a sandbox.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in an antitrust trial that Google's dominant search engine position is due to default deals with smartphone makers, arguing that user choice is "completely bogus" and defaults are the key factor in search behavior.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified at the Google antitrust trial, supporting the Department of Justice's argument that Google used unfair tactics, such as default search contracts, to block competitors like Bing, but also acknowledging the difficulty of challenging Google's dominance in the search market.
Apple's long-standing and lucrative agreement with Google to have it as the default search engine on Safari across its products has prevented Apple from developing its own search product and solidifies Google's dominance in the search industry, according to evidence presented in the US v. Google antitrust trial.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed concerns about the optics of Google's deal with Apple, which made Google the pre-selected search option on Apple's Safari browser, according to emails introduced as evidence in the Justice Department's antitrust case against Google.
The U.S. Department of Justice is leading a major antitrust trial against Google, accusing the search engine company of using illegal methods to crush competition and maintain an unfair advantage; if ruled in favor of the government, the trial could result in new online search possibilities for users and businesses and potentially change the way Google operates in the future.
