Google’s Competitors Take Center Stage in Pivotal US Antitrust Trial Commencement
DuckDuckGo, which has long complained that Google’s tactics have made it too difficult to get people to use their search engine on a mobile phone, will be one of many rivals of the online search behemoth eyeing a once-in-a-generation antitrust trial set to commence on Tuesday.
In a trial seen as a conflict for the essence of the Internet, the United States will argue that Google violated the rules in its efforts to dominate online search.
The U.S. Justice Department is expected to detail how Google paid billions of dollars annually to device manufacturers such as Apple Inc., wireless companies such as AT&T, and browser manufacturers such as Mozilla to maintain Google’s search engine at the top of the rankings.
DuckDuckGo has complained, for instance, that eliminating Google as the default search engine on a device and replacing it with DuckDuckGo requires too many steps, thereby limiting their market share to a meager 2.3%.
DuckDuckGo, Microsoft, and Yahoo are among the numerous Google competitors who will intently monitor the trial.
“Google makes it unduly difficult to use DuckDuckGo by default. We’re glad this issue is finally going to have its day in court.” DuckDuckGo spokesman Kamyl Bazbaz stated that Google had a “stranglehold on major distribution points for more than a decade.”
Google has refuted malfeasance and is prepared to defend itself vigorously.
The legal battle has enormous ramifications for Big Tech, which has been accused of buying or suffocating small competitors, but has been shielded from many accusations of violating antitrust law due to the free or low-cost services provided to users by Alphabet’s Google, Facebook, and Amazon.com.
“It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this case, particularly for monopolies and companies with significant market share,” antitrust attorney Luke Hasskamp told Reuters.
“This will be a major case, particularly for the major tech companies of the world (Google, Apple, Twitter, and others), which have grown to have an outsized role in nearly all our lives,” he added.
Microsoft, filed in 1998, and AT&T, submitted in 1974, were previous antitrust cases of comparable significance. The AT&T split in 1982 is credited with paving the way for the modern cell phone industry, while the battle with Microsoft is credited with making room on the internet for Google and others.
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Key Factors and Stakes in the Pending Antitrust Litigation Against Google
Last year, Congress attempted to rein in Big Tech but primarily failed. It considered legislation to limit the market power of the corporations, such as legislation to prevent them from favoring their own products, but failed to enact the most aggressive of these measures.
Former President Barack Obama nominated Judge Amit Mehta to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He now represents Big Tech’s adversaries.
The pending litigation was filed by the Justice Department of former President Donald Trump. In a rare display of bipartisanship, the Justice Department of President Joe Biden has continued with the litigation and filed a second one against Google in January that focuses on advertising technology.
In this initial proceeding, Judge Mehta will determine whether Google violated antitrust law and, if so, what should be done. The government has asked the judge to order Google to cease any illegal activity, but it has also asked for “structural relief as needed,” raising the possibility that the tech colossus could be ordered to be broken up.
The government’s strongest arguments are against Google’s revenue sharing agreements with Android manufacturers, which require Google to be the only search on the smartphone in exchange for a portion of search advertising revenue, according to Daniel McCuaig, a partner at Cohen Milstein who previously worked for the U.S. Antitrust Division of the Justice Department.
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Source: Reuters
