US Judge Grills Google, DOJ As Trial Wraps Up In Landmark Antitrust Case That Can Shape ‘Future Of Internet’

The US Justice Department and Google wrapped up the first day of closing arguments over claims that the Alphabet parent has unlawfully marked its dominance in web search and associated advertisements. The state contends this case can shape the internet’s future. According to Reuters, US District Judge Amit Mehta grilled both parties in Washington while probing whether platforms like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are a substitute for search advertising dollars.

According to the report, the judge said the issue was the platform’s “substitute-ability” for advertisers which the court must resolve. The authority will now prepare a decision on whether Google’s practices breached the civil antitrust law. While he did not share a timeline for when he will rule, experts speculate the judge could order changes in the tech giant’s business practices.

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The judge also questioned whether Google evaluates the pricing of competitors before making adjustments. Google’s ad business is responsible for about three-fourths of its revenue. David Dahlquist, the lawyer representing the US government, said that “advertising revenue is what drives Google’s monopoly power today”.

Dahlquist said that Google feels no market pressures while increasing prices or not improving products. “Only a monopolist can make a product worse and still make more money,” the lawyer noted. On the other hand, Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlei countered the argument and said the company’s share of US advertising revenue has steadily declined due to the competition.

Schmidtlei said the company is “constrained” by rivals as advertisers think overlapping audiences exist across platforms. He added the tech giant has also been innovating products. “Google has won with a superior product,” he noted. The DOJ also contested Google in a trial which began on September 12 and claimed the search engine giant is a monopolist that abuses its power to earn money.

Witnesses from Verizon, Samsung and Google itself testified about the company’s annual payments – $26.3 billion in 2021 – to ensure its search is the default choice on smartphones and browsers and to keep its dominant market share.

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The government asked Mehta to presume that Google deleted chats that were unfavorable to the company. Mehta repeatedly questioned Google’s prior policies, which he said left document retention decisions to its employees. “They should have been preserved. Should there be some consequence for what at a minimum was far from best practices?” the judge asked.

Lawyer Colette Connor (representing Google), defended the company’s data preservation practices and labelled them as reasonable, and urged the court not to impose sanctions. The case, filed by the Trump administration, was the first of several aimed at reining in the market power of tech companies. President Joe Biden’s antitrust enforcers have followed with a second case against Google and cases against Amazon and Apple.

With Inputs From Reuters