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Wall Street Journal: Google Antitrust Judge Says He Has ‘No Idea’ How He Will Rule
Judge set closing arguments for May on whether DOJ proved that Google unlawfully monopolizes internet search.
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CNBC: Apple gets 36% of Google search revenue from Safari, Alphabet witness says
The 36% figure, which was not previously known to the public, is one of the clearest indications of how lucrative Google’s search deal has been for both Apple and the search engine company. The incidental disclosure from Alphabet’s expert witness Kevin Murphy, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was not expected.
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Bloomberg: Google Competes for Searches With Everyone Online, Expert Says
Economist testified at antitrust trial in company’s defense. Google competes with Amazon, Yelp on searches, expert argues.
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Wall Street Journal: Google Antitrust Trial Exposes Deepening Rift With Microsoft
Google's antitrust trial in Washington, D.C., has provided a stage for Microsoft to air long-simmering grievances about the search giant's market.
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Gizmodo: New Google Trial Docs May Explain Why Search Sucks So Bad Now
New documents in the Google antitrust trial show how tension between product and advertising teams could lead to degraded experiences for consumers.
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Bloomberg: Google Walks Tightrope on AI in Search Antitrust Trial
Google has been downplaying its position in AI in US v Google testimony—but it boasts of its AI prowess in company earnings reports, product announcements & investor calls.
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Bloomberg: Mozilla’s ‘Failed’ Bet on Yahoo Takes Spotlight in Google Trial
Mozilla Foundation’s decision to switch the search engine built into its Firefox browser to Yahoo from Google was a “failed” bet that degraded the user experience, the company’s chief executive said.
CNBC: Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai testifies in U.S. antitrust trial to defend Google’s search business
The cross-examination highlighted how Google has contended with the possibility of losing out on key distribution channels back when it was a much smaller company in 2005.
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Bloomberg: Google’s Pichai Refutes DOJ Allegations of Deleting Evidence
Employees kept chat history ‘off’ to auto-delete messages. The CEO said he ‘very rarely’ has chats set to disappear.
NY Post: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to testify over private messages: sources
Pichai — who will testify in Washington, DC, as the landmark antitrust trial enters its second month — likely will be pushed by the Department of Justice to explain why he has told employees in at least one recorded chat from 2021 to “change the setting of this group to history off,” according to sources close to the proceedings.
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Prospect: Dueling Petitions Highlight DOJ–Big Tech Revolving Door
Though the charges of ethics violations are not symmetrical, the proxy battle lays bare the revolving door between the Justice Department and Big Tech firms, which could have bearing on the case ahead.
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Slate: Google’s on Trial. No Looking.
Scott Nover on public and media access hurdles in #USvGoogle. “Why a big chunk of the most important tech trial in years is happening behind closed doors.”
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The Information: How Google Kept Apple’s Search Ambitions in Check
In 2014, Google executives were deeply concerned about a new Apple feature that gave users of its Safari web browser suggestions for websites to visit rather than routing them to Google, which was paying Apple to be the default search engine on that company’s devices.
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Bloomberg: Expedia’s Ex-COO Says Ad Fees Jumped After Google Remade Search
Advertising payments from Expedia Group Inc.’s vacation home rental business to Alphabet Inc.’s Google ballooned 10 times over a five-year period, but failed to increase traffic after the search engine started showcasing its own flight and hotel information, a former executive of the company told a federal judge.
Ars Technica: Google’s 21-year deal with Apple is the “heart” of monopoly case, judge says
The DOJ argued that Apple's deal with Google prevented one of its biggest rivals in the mobile phone industry from competing against Google in search.
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Bloomberg: Judge Deciding Google Antitrust Fate Criticized for Closed Court
Mehta faced criticism for evidentiary rulings, closing court. Judge previously ruled in favor of the FTC in a merger case
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Global Echo: How Google’s Antitrust Trial Could Change Internet Search
“Google is so dominant that ‘Google’ is not only a noun to identify the company and the Google search engine but also a verb that means to search the internet,” the filing complaint says.
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Verge: The Google antitrust trial has been frustratingly locked down — the NYT just filed a motion to open it up
US v. Google is one of the most important antitrust trials in decades, but Judge Amit Mehta has kept most of it out of the public view. That needs to change, argues a new motion from The New York Times.
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New American Journal: Court Secrecy Undermines Trust in Google Antitrust Trial
Before a single witness could utter a word of testimony in the Google antitrust case on Tuesday, the public and the press were temporarily barred from the courtroom.
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Reuters: Five things to know about the Google antitrust trial as it hits halfway mark
In the trial that started on Sept. 12 and is scheduled to go to about mid-November, the Justice Department accused Google of manipulating online auctions - a multibillion dollar industry dominated by Google - with these formulas to favor its own bottom line.
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Digiday: What if Google loses its antitrust battle with the DOJ over its search market dominance?
Since the Google antitrust trial began Sept. 12 , a range of testimonies have painted a picture of the search giant’s dealings with advertisers and various other tech giants. And while the case is far from over, what if Judge Amit P. Mehta rules in favor of the U.S. Dept. of Justice?
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Reuters: US in antitrust trial accuses Google of illegal methods to push up ad prices
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department pressed a Google executive on Wednesday about techniques the search and advertising giant used to push up online advertising prices in an allegedly unfair way.
Bloomberg: Ex-Googler’s Struggling Search Startup Becomes Antitrust Cautionary Tale
Ex-Googler Neeva founder takes the stand in DOJ’s monopoly case. Other fledgling search firms say they must fight for a toehold.
Wall Street Journal: Microsoft CEO Says Google’s Agreements With Apple Unfairly Harmed Bing
Satya Nadella says it will take more than AI to check Google’s advantage in internet search.
CBS News: Microsoft CEO says unfair practices led to search engine dominance
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, tactics that in turn have thwarted his company's rival program, Bing.
The Intercept: Amazon and Google Are Finally Facing the Music
Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of “Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy” joins the Intercept’s Ryan Grim,.
The Guardian: Has Google’s monopoly on the search engine market finally timed out?
Why is this significant? Basically, because the US government has been asleep at the wheel for almost a quarter of a century and has finally woken up to its democratic responsibilities, writes John Naughton.
Reuters: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to testify on Monday in Google antitrust trial
The government is likely to ask Nadella about Microsoft's efforts to expand the reach of Edge and Bing, its browser and search engine, and the obstacles posed by Google's dominance.
The Guardian: ‘Veil of secrecy’: outrage as Google limits public access to antitrust trial
Critics decry media shut-out as judge permits evidence and testimony to be presented behind closed doors.
Bloomberg: Google Search Is Like ‘Cigarettes or Drugs,’ Executive Said
A senior Google executive once likened the company’s search advertising business to selling drugs, calling it “one of the world’s greatest business models ever created” since the company can “ignore” users and focus on generating revenue from advertising. Michael Roszak, vice president for finance at Google, wrote the notes during a July 2017 training Google
AlJazeera: Google’s antitrust showdown with US could ‘dramatically change’ competition
The founder of Branch Metrics, which developed a method of searching within smartphone apps, told a U.S. antitrust trial on Wednesday how his company struggled to integrate with devices because of steps Google took to block them.
Computerworld: Apple’s Eddy Cue testifies in Google’s confusing, secretive antitrust trial
Top Apple executive Eddy Cue testified in the government’s antitrust case against Google, but it’s hard to judge the import of what he said given the shroud of secrecy surrounding the trial.
Wall Street Journal: Secrecy of Google Antitrust Trial Leads to Blame Game
Much of the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google has unfolded behind closed doors, prompting the judge to defend himself against criticisms that he too readily deferred to requests by Google and interested parties such as Apple to seal the courtroom.
Bloomberg: Googlers Told to Avoid Words Like ‘Share’ and ‘Bundle,’ US Says
Alphabet Inc.‘s Google taught its employees to steer clear of certain phrases that could implicate antitrust violations, but such practices are standard and don’t help the Justice Department make its case against the online search giant, analysts and in-house counsel say.
Bloomberg: The Future of Big Tech Antitrust
Google is at the center of an antitrust trial that could result in the breakup of the 25-year-old company. American Economic Liberties Project Legal Counsel Lee Hepner joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Technology."
Marketplace Tech: What’s Happening in the Google Antitrust Trial? It’s Kind of a Black Box
Leah Nylen of Bloomberg says much of the testimony and many of the exhibits have been removed from public view to protect sensitive information. But that could keep us from having a full understanding of the outcome.
The New York Times: ‘Unprecedented’ Secrecy in Google Trial as Tech Giants Push to Limit Disclosures
Google has pushed for its antitrust trial to be as secretive as the company itself. Despite a mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible, Google is deploying every legal resource to keep the public from accessing information about this trial.
Wired: Meet the Law Geeks Exposing Google’s Secretive Antitrust Trial
A historic antitrust trial sees Google accused of unlawfully monopolizing search. A handful of antitrust activists are trying to make sure the world sees all the action.
Fast Company: Google’s search monopoly finally faces its first real legal threat
Since 1890, there have been a few antitrust trials that shaped the biggest corporations in America…Because of a ruling last week, we’re about to add Google to that list of famous corporations facing a monopolization claim by the government.
AXIOS: Google search trial to move forward with a narrowed case
"Up against the largest corporation in the world and in history — one caught defying court orders to destroy evidence throughout discovery — the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of state attorneys general prevailed against Google today," Katherine Van Dyck, senior counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a release.
Bloomberg: Six Documents That Explain DOJ’s Antitrust Case Against Google
Both sides offered thousands of documents, emails as evidence. Judge not expected to decide case until at least next year.
Bloomberg: Apple Gets 36% of Google Revenue in Search Deal, Expert Says
Revenue sharing amount was supposed to remain confidential. Google witness disclosed number during antitrust trial in DC
Bloomberg: Google Planned to ‘Go Big in Europe’ After EU Android Case
Google — under fire in court for allegedly resting on its laurels thanks to its 90% market dominance — only made an effort to beef up the quality of its search engine in the European Union after being hit by a record antitrust fine.
Washington Post: Google spent $26 billion to hide this phone setting from you
Google goes to great lengths to be your default search engine and keep you from switching. Here’s why you should make your own choice.
NY Times: Google C.E.O. Says Tech Giant Has Improved the Web for All Consumers
Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, appeared in court to defend his company against a landmark federal antitrust case.
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CNN: Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies in Google antitrust trial
Pichai, whom Google called as a star witness, opened his testimony by recounting his journey from Chennai, India to Google and his path to becoming the tech company’s CEO in 2015.
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NY Times: Testifying in a landmark antitrust case, Google’s chief executive defended huge payments to phone makers
The lack of competition in general search tools, the government argues, deprives consumers of improved quality and choice.
NY Times: Inside Google’s Plan to Stop Apple From Getting Serious About Search
Google has worried for years that Apple would one day expand its internet search technology, and has been working on ways to prevent that from happening.
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The Federalist Why 50 AGs And DOJ Joined The Massive Google Antitrust Case
The Google antitrust case is about nothing less than the future of the internet and consumers’ data and privacy.
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NY Times: What the U.S. Has Argued in the Google Antitrust Trial
As the government wraps up its case in the landmark monopoly trial, it has built a picture of how Google became dominant in online search .
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Marketplace: The Google antitrust case raises the question, why don’t we change our tech default settings?
“They have created … a feedback loop where they get users and more ads and more data and better search, and it has locked every competitor out,” said Katie Van Dyck, senior counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly advocacy group.
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Reuters: Google executive defends search quality in US antitrust trial
Nayak's discussions of improving search appeared to downplay the role that search query volume played, implicitly disagreeing with Microsoft
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AP: What Google’s antitrust trial means for your search habits
“The judge can compel Google to open the floodgates so more startups and third-party competitors can put greater competitive pressure on Google, which will create higher quality online services.” If government regulators prevail in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century, it’s likely to unleash drastic changes designed to undermining the dominance of the Google search engine that defines the internet for billions of people
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Bloomberg: Google Ad Changes Leave Marketers Flying Blind, Expert Says
Change to search reports in 2020 reduced data advertisers get. Columbia Business School expert testified in antitrust trial.
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Popular Mechanics: How the Google Monopoly Trial Will Shape the Future of Search Engines
Google’s technologies are not airtight, and should not be the only option.
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Bloomberg: Google’s Pichai Decried Bad ‘Optics’ of Search Engine Deal With Apple
Emails from Google executive presented at antitrust trial. The DOJ says Google spends $10 billion annually on search deals.
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Bloomberg: Google Posed Worries for Wireless Carriers Mulling Search App
Wireless carriers balked at allowing Samsung to load its Galaxy S10 device with an app search capability that Google lacked, due to potential conflicts over their contracts with Google, a former Samsung investment adviser said at the antitrust trial Thursday.
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Verge: The Google trial shows that Apple’s search deal is the most important contract in tech
Search is the biggest business in the business. And for anyone wanting to make it big in search, the fastest way to win is in Safari.
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Reuters: Google stopped Samsung from expanding search app offering, former executive says
A former executive at Samsung Electronics' venture capital arm who proposed that mobile app developer Branch Metrics' software offering be expanded in Samsung smartphones faced pushback due to pressure from Google
Verge: Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony
The Department of Justice’s legal fight with Google has revealed that Apple explored acquiring Bing from Microsoft, and held calls with DuckDuckGo about using its search engine for Safari’s private browsing mode.
Niemen Lab: If Google suddenly had real competition in search, how would news publishers’ world change?
The tech giant’s ongoing antitrust trial raises the possibility of the federal government, Apple, or both giving Google its first meaningful search competition in decades.
The Drum: What we’ve learned so far in Google’s landmark antitrust trial
What marketers need to know about the ongoing hearings concerning the tech giant’s dominance in the search space.
AdExchanger: The Big Story: Google’s Quarter-Life Crisis
Listen in as this podcast recap of what’s happened in the trial so far, and what to look out for as it unfolds in the coming weeks.
NY Post: Google antitrust trial: Apple, DuckDuckGo testimonies unsealed as critics blast secrecy
The judge overseeing Google’s landmark antitrust case unsealed closed-door testimony from two key witnesses, potentially marking his latest move to address criticism that the once-in-a-generation trial has been too secretive.
Washington Post: Apple considered buying Microsoft’s Bing to battle Google
Recently unsealed testimony offers a rare glimpse of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the search-engine sector, which is overwhelmingly dominated by Google.
Slate: The Feds Aren’t Just Going After Google and Amazon. They’re Suing the Garbage Internet.
“This digital payola is how Google and Amazon cash in on their dominance, the government says, but it’s also how it’s made these services palpably worse for everyone. The feds, in other words, are trying to do something about the garbage internet.”
Wired: How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet
Testimony during Google’s antitrust case revealed that the company may be altering billions of queries a day to generate results that will get you to buy more stuff.
Bloomberg: Microsoft CEO Says Google Search Dominance to Give It AI Edge
Nadella is testifying in the DOJ antitrust case against Google. He said, ‘You get up, you brush your teeth and you search on Google’
Tech Report: Apple and Microsoft Potential 2020 Deal Central to Antitrust Trial Against Google
In a surprising revelation, Microsoft and Apple were reportedly in discussions around 2020 about a potential deal involving Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. The deal, if successful, would have seen Bing replacing Google as the default search engine on Apple’s devices, a move that would have significantly reshaped the search engine landscape.
Fast Company: The age of AI is a time for antitrust
Google's landmark monopoly trial could usher in a new wave of AI startups—or edge them out. “Anyone who puts their own content on the web should be alarmed by the “plagiarism engine” that Google wants to impose on us. And that’s putting aside the genuine concern that the answers are sometimes objectively wrong,” Luther Lowe writes.
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Prospect: Monopolist Secrecy Demands Are Overwhelming—and May Be Illegal
One anti-monopoly group contends that withholding basic financial information violates federal securities laws.
NY Post: Forbidden Apple: Google trial secrets remain hard to unlock
Conservative groups are clapping back against Google’s efforts to keep its secretive relationship with Apple under lock and key.
Reuters: Google created hurdles to protect smartphone foothold, small search firm says
The founder of Branch Metrics, which developed a method of searching within smartphone apps, told a U.S. antitrust trial on Wednesday how his company struggled to integrate with devices because of steps Google took to block them.
Verge: The Google antitrust trial is opening back up... a little
Google has until 9PM each day to object to documents being released online.
Gizmodo: Judge Says Google Can't Keep Hiding Its Dealings During DOJ Antitrust Trial
Google has been rather miffed that all its dirty laundry is being aired in public as it tries to fight off federal allegations the company has been monopolizing its digital ecosystem. After nearly a week of trial documents going offline, a judge has again allowed Google’s secrets to go public, though the tech giant will have time each day to dispute each new release.
Bloomberg: Google Judge Told Android Contracts Block Upstart Search App
In week 3 of the USvGoogle trial, a Startup CEO says Google mobile phone deals stymied search development. And evidence reveals a key Google executive raised concerns over Samsung using new app.
Fast Company: “History is turned off”: What Google’s (Deleted) Chats Mean for its Antitrust Battle with the DOJ
Chat records reveal employees at the search giant frequently discussing going “off the record,” as part of what the Dept. of Justice calls a “remarkable” number of deletions
The Verge: ‘Is Google Really the Best Search Engine, Or Is it Just the One Writing the Biggest Checks?’
Cue was on the stand as a witness in US v. Google, the landmark antitrust trial over Google’s search business. Cue is one of the highest-profile witnesses in the case so far, in part because the deal between Google and Apple — which makes Google the default search engine on all Apple devices and pays Apple billions of dollars a year — is central to the US Department of Justice’s case against Google.
The Hill: Majority in Poll Say Big Tech has ‘Too Much Power in the Market’
More than half — 60 percent — of Americans say Big Tech companies such as Google, Amazon and Meta have “too much power in the market,” according to a poll released Tuesday.
Bloomberg: Google Emails, Memos Hidden From Web as DOJ Caves at Trial
A historic antitrust trial sees Google accused of unlawfully monopolizing search. A handful of antitrust activists are trying to make sure the world sees all the action.
Reuters: Judge allows key US antitrust Google search claims to go to trial
The Justice Department sued Google in 2020, accusing the $1.6 trillion company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech since it sued Microsoft Corp in 1998.
Consumer Affairs: Are you sick of using Google?
The government’s case claims Google has gained a monopoly in internet search, not by building a better mousetrap but by pushing competitors to the sidelines…”From a usability perspective, it can be argued that results have gotten worse over time since Google put ads in line with search results and made them look very similar to non-paid search results” [Dominic Chorafakis, P.Eng, CISSP and principal at Akouto, a technology firm] said.