Judge maintains Google’s research and marketing dominance

Google pays Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine in Safari
Last updated 3 hours agoGoogle has been found to have violated antitrust laws in the United States. The court ruled that Google had monopolized advertising, search, and other services. The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet (parent company of Google) has made an important development. After a ten week trial and according to Judge Amit Metha, Google was found to be in violation of Section 2 of Sherman Act. The ruling states that “Google is a monopsonist and has acted like one to maintain its monopoly.” The court has agreed with the DOJ that Google is a monopoly on the search market and online advertising. The ruling does not determine any fines or restitution. It only determines Google’s liability. Google will face other DOJ lawsuits in 2024. It will face another trial starting September 9th. This one will cover the advertising technology side. Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs commented on the ruling on Monday evening. This decision acknowledges that Google is the best search engine but concludes that it shouldn’t be made easily available. We are pleased that the Court found that Google was ‘the industry’s highest quality search engines, which has earned Google hundreds of millions daily users’, that Google “has been the best search, particularly on mobile devices”, that Google ‘has continued innovating in search’, and that Apple and Mozilla sometimes assess Google’s quality of search relative to its competitors and find Google superior. We plan to appeal, given that people are increasingly searching for information in new and different ways. We will continue to make products that are easy to use and helpful to people. Apple received some of these payments. In 2022, Google will give Apple $20 billion. The payment was made to maintain Google’s default search engine status. Apple did not object to the subpoenaing of three Apple executives for testimony as part of the proceedings. SVP Services Eddy Cue was called to testify, as were SVP Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea and VP Corporate Development Adrian Perica. Eddy Cue revealed the $20 million figure during the trial. It was only revealed after a series of unsealed testimonies. Microsoft also tried to make Bing Safari’s default search engine by offering Apple 90% advertising revenue. Microsoft offered to sell Bing in 2020 to Apple. A possible financial hole Apple’s billion-dollar payments to Google may be lucrative, but they may not continue. Google was said to be keen in July to reduce its dependence on Apple’s search traffic and revenue. Apple’s payment to Google was equivalent to a 36% share of Google’s advertising revenue for searches conducted through Safari on iPhone. The annual payment could now be at risk following the DOJ’s victory in the lawsuit. It’s more likely that the gravy-train will stop abruptly if Judge Mehta decides to break up Google. Update August 5, 6 :08 PM ET: Updated to include a quote from Google in response to the ruling.