This is the best summary I could come up with:
Pichai asserted that Google’s deals to be the default search engine in various mobile and desktop browsers, on which the internet giant spent $26.3 billion in 2021 per documents discussed at trial, actually enhanced competition – a position rivals including Microsoft have disputed.
The Justice Department is trying to prove that Google’s 90 percent market share is the result of unlawful behavior – paid deals that stifle competition and anticompetitive technical barriers.
The government’s case has focused frequently on the power of default settings to shape behavior, which should be obvious to anyone who has seen the ad industry fight tooth and nail to have people opt-out of data sharing rather than opt-in.
While there’s nothing in the way of a smoking gun, the internal documents shed light on the extent to which Google can control revenue from search ad auctions to achieve desired financial results.
Also, the Feds published a 2019 email chain [PDF] involving Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan about how to respond to DuckDuckGo gaining attention for promoting more private search.
“I disagree with a methodology that consists of conflating ‘people care increasingly about privacy, DDG is making a lot of noise about it, Sundar mentioned it in I/O’ (all true statements) then concluding this needs a product change.”
The original article contains 793 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
God I love trials
Lol why would Google pay billions for something that “promotes competition”? That’s literally a lose-lose move. Shit suits say.
They’re so confident that they can’t be beat that they pay everyone off to make sure? Seems like they’re admitting they suck at search… on the record. I love it.
That said, he pushed back against the government’s position that defaults are determinative by arguing that the estimated $18 billion to $20 billion Google pays Apple annually to be the default search provider in Safari reflects concerns about competition from Apple rather than maintenance of an alleged Google Search monopoly.
In other words, Google reckons it’s better or more cost effective to pay off Apple and keep Google Search the default on iPhones than face an Apple-powered search engine or some other rival.
…
The Justice Department is trying to prove that Google’s 90 percent market share is the result of unlawful behavior – paid deals that stifle competition and anticompetitive technical barriers.
Uhh, aren’t those the same things?
