WASHINGTON — The U.S. Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified in the largest antitrust lawsuit in the United States in a quarter-century, defending his company’s practice of paying Apple and other tech companies to make Google the default search engine on their devices, claiming the goal was to improve the user experience “seamless and easy.”
The Department of Justice claims that Google — a firm synonymous with internet searching — pays out tech companies to block alternative search engines to stifle competition and innovation. According to court filings placed into the record last week, the payments totaled more than $26 billion in 2021, a year in which Google’s parent company, Alphabet, had about $68 billion in operational expenses.
Google claims to be the market leader since its search engine outperforms the competition’s. “We are working very, very hard to provide the best experience for any given query,” Pichai stated. “That was always our true north.”
Pichai, born in India, joined Google in 2004 from the consulting company McKinsey & Co. Before becoming CEO, he worked on Google Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, and was appointed to the company’s top position in 2015. He is also the CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent business. Under his leadership, Alphabet’s net income increased to $60 billion last year, up from $19.5 billion in 2016, the company’s first full year of operation.
Google CEO Defends Paying Apple And Others To Make Google The Default Search Engine On Devices
Pichai, Google’s star defense witness, testified Monday that Google’s payments to phone manufacturers and wireless phone companies were partly intended to nudge them into making costly security upgrades and other improvements to their devices rather than simply ensuring Google was the first search engine users encountered when they opened their smartphones or computers.
Google benefits from the agreements because it earns money when users click on advertising that appears in its searches and splits the profits with Apple and other companies that use Google as their main search engine.
The Justice Department attempted to demonstrate that Google was concerned that Apple would launch its search engine and that it would lose talent to Apple. Pichai sought to be notified directly if a member of Google’s search engine team switched to Apple in a 2019 email presented in court.
The antitrust complaint was filed in 2020, during the Trump administration, and is the largest since the Justice Department went after Microsoft and its dominance of internet browsers 25 years ago. The trial began on September 12 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled for 10 weeks.
Google CEO Defends Paying Apple And Others To Make Google The Default Search Engine On Devices
Much of the testimony in the case has taken place behind closed doors, and a large amount of material has been withheld from documents at the request of Google and Apple, whose attorneys argue that trade secrets must be protected.
A verdict from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is likely early next year. If the judge finds that Google violated the law, another trial will be held to determine how to limit its market power. The Mountain View, California-based firm could be barred from paying Apple and others to make Google the default search engine.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has testified that Google has a hypnotic effect on users.
“You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google,” he added. According to him, the only way to break the habit is to change the default device setting. ___ Technology Associated Press Michael Liedke, a writer, contributed to this article.
SOURCE – (AP)
