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DOJ Begins Landmark Antitrust Trial against Google, Alleging Market Manipulation
By Paul Wiseman and Michael Liedtke | The Associated Press
The Department of Justice (DOJ) kicked off the largest antitrust trial in the United States in the past 25 years, claiming that Google has leveraged its dominant position in the internet search market to stifle competition and hinder innovation.
Lead litigator Kenneth Dintzer stated, “This trial has profound implications for the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face genuine competition.”
Over the course of the next ten weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will present evidence to support allegations that Google manipulated the market in its favor by establishing its search engine as the default choice across various platforms and devices. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is unlikely to issue a ruling until early next year. If the court determines that Google violated the law, a subsequent trial will decide on the necessary measures to restrict the power of the Mountain View-based company.
Key executives from Google and Alphabet Inc., as well as representatives from other influential technology firms, are expected to testify during the trial. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who took over from Google co-founder Larry Page four years ago, is anticipated to provide testimony. Court documents also suggest that Eddy Cue, a senior executive at Apple, may be called as a witness.
The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google nearly three years ago, during the previous administration, alleging that the company exploited its dominance in internet search to gain an unfair advantage against competitors. Government lawyers claim that Google secures its position through substantial payments, with annual expenditures of over $10 billion, to become the default search engine on Apple’s iPhone and web browsers like Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.
“Google’s contracts prevent rivals from matching its search quality and ad monetization, particularly on mobile devices,” said Dintzer. “This cycle has persisted for over 12 years, consistently benefiting Google.”
Google argues that despite holding approximately 90% of the internet search market, it faces significant competition. The company contends that search engines like Microsoft’s Bing, as well as websites such as Amazon and Yelp, offer alternative ways for users to access information on the web. John Schmidtlein, an attorney from the law firm Williams & Connolly representing Google, stated, “Default search engines are just one of many ways users access the web, and people utilize various methods regularly.”
Dintzer countered by claiming that the vast amount of data Google collects from processing searches gives the company an unfair advantage over its competitors and enables continuous improvements to its search engine. “User data is the lifeblood of a search engine,” he argued. Due to its market dominance, “Google’s search and ad products are consistently superior to those of its rivals.”
Therefore, according to Dintzer, Google pays tremendous amounts to secure its search engine as the default option on devices provided by Apple and other companies.
Dintzer asserted that “Google began weaponizing defaults” over 15 years ago, citing an internal Google document that classified its arrangements as an “Achilles Heel” for rival search engines like Yahoo and MSN.
Moreover, he claimed that Google coerced Apple into making its search engine the default choice on Apple devices in exchange for revenue sharing. “This is not a negotiation,” Dintzer claimed. “This is Google saying: Take it or leave it.”
Prosecutors argue that Google’s anticompetitive tactics prevented Apple from developing its own search engine.
Additionally, Dintzer accused Google of deleting documents to conceal evidence and leveraging attorney-client privilege to hide other relevant information from court proceedings.
“They systematically destroyed documents for years,” alleged Dintzer. “They attempted to erase history, your honor, in order to rewrite it within this court.”
Google maintains that its continuous improvements to the search engine explain why users continually return to it, resulting in “Googling” becoming synonymous with internet searches. Schmidtlein claimed that Google’s tweaks simply made its search engine superior to its primary rival, Bing. “At every critical moment,” he stated, “they were outperformed in the market.”
The trial coincides with the 25th anniversary of the initial investment in Google, where Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a $100,000 check, enabling Page and Brin to establish the company in a Silicon Valley garage.
Today, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, boasts a worth of $1.7 trillion and a workforce of 182,000 employees. The large majority of its revenue stems from $224 billion in annual ad sales facilitated by a network of digital services centered around a search engine handling billions of daily queries.
The DOJ’s antitrust case draws parallels to the one filed against Microsoft in 1998, where regulators accused the tech giant of forcing manufacturers dependent on its Windows operating system to feature Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. This practice ultimately eradicated competition from the once-popular browser, Netscape.
Several members of the current DOJ team analyzing the Google case, including Dintzer, were also involved in the Microsoft investigation.
If the trial results in concessions that undermine Google’s power, it could significantly impact the company. For instance, it may be forced to cease payments to companies like Apple, which currently utilize Google as the default search engine on smartphones and computers.
Alternatively, the legal battle could distract Google, similarly to what happened to Microsoft after its antitrust battle. Microsoft struggled to adapt to the rise of internet search and smartphones, a period during which Google capitalized on the opportunity and transformed into a formidable industry leader.
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