The most significant antitrust trial in 25 years is drawing to a close in Washington, with Google making its final stand against the DOJ’s efforts to break the tech giant’s death grip on online search.
The Financial Times reports that the federal court in Washington began hearing closing arguments on Thursday in the 10-week trial, where the DOJ accused Alphabet, Google’s parent company, of suppressing search rivals by paying tens of billions annually for anti-competitive agreements with wireless carriers, browser developers, and device manufacturers.
Google’s lawyer, John Schmidtlein, pushed back on claims that the company had hindered rivals’ efforts to gain a foothold in online search, arguing that users had plenty of alternatives. “Google winning agreements because it has a better product is not a harm to the competitive process, even if it gives it scale to improve its product,” Schmidtlein told the court.
However, Kenneth Dintzer, a lawyer for the government, countered that Google’s “anti-competitive conduct harms competition and is self-perpetuating.” He emphasized that defaults “are a powerful way to drive searches, otherwise Google wouldn’t pay billions of dollars for them.”
Unsealed court documents revealed that Alphabet paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 alone to be the default search engine for its iPhone and Safari browser on its other devices. This revelation underscores the high stakes involved in securing default search positions.
Judge Amit Mehta, presiding over the case, noted that search has evolved significantly over the past decade. While questioning the DOJ’s contention that the quality of search had suffered due to the lack of competition, he also acknowledged that only two “substantial competitors” had entered the search market in the past decade, highlighting potential barriers to entry.
The trial also touched on Google’s alleged monopolization of advertising and subsequent abuse of its dominance by raising prices and “manipulating” auctions. Google maintained that competition in search had “never been more varied or significant” and that the quality of its products drove demand.
This antitrust trial is the most high-profile since the DOJ’s case against Microsoft in the 1990s and serves as a significant test for the Biden administration’s tougher stance on curbing the power of Big Tech. The Federal Trade Commission has pending litigation against Meta and Amazon, while the DOJ recently unveiled a case against Apple.
Read more at the Financial Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
