Google faces trial allegations of manipulating the search engine market.
The verdict in this case, one among several antitrust legal battles confronting Google, is not anticipated until 2024.
Commencing this Tuesday, Google is poised to confront a formidable challenge to its dominant search engine as federal regulators embark on a mission to dismantle its internet empire. This marks the most significant U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter-century.
Over the ensuing 10 weeks, legal teams comprising federal attorneys and state attorneys general will endeavor to demonstrate that Google manipulated the market to its advantage, potentially violating the Sherman Act. This manipulation primarily revolved around establishing its search engine as the default choice across various platforms and devices.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is unlikely to render a verdict until early next year. Should the judgment find Google in breach of the law, a subsequent trial will determine the necessary measures to curtail the influence of the Mountain View, California-based conglomerate.
Anticipated witnesses include top executives from Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc., as well as representatives from other influential tech firms. Among them is Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page four years ago. Additionally, court documents hint at the possibility of Eddy Cue, a high-ranking executive at Apple, being called to testify.
Nearly three years ago, during the Trump administration, the Justice Department initiated an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant has exploited its dominance in internet search to gain an unfair advantage over its competitors. Government attorneys contend that Google maintains its supremacy through a kind of pay-to-play system, where it invests billions annually to secure its position as the default search engine on devices like the iPhone and web browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.
Regulators further assert that Google engaged in illegal market manipulation by mandating the inclusion of its search engine alongside its Android software for smartphones, effectively making it a prerequisite for device manufacturers to access the Android app store.
While Google boasts a lineup of immensely popular products including the Chrome web browser, Gmail, YouTube, and online maps, none have reached the same level of indispensability or value as the internet search engine originally conceived by Larry Page and his Stanford University peer, Sergey Brin, in the late 1990s.
