Google Antitrust Trial, Accused Of Domination Of Search Position On Mobile

The US Justice Department will continue to voice its arguments on Thursday 14 September that Google is seeking to reach an agreement with mobile operators to gain a strong default position on smartphones to dominate searches in antitrust hearings that could change the future of the internet.

The government will complete Thursday's investigation of Antonio Rangel, who teaches behavioral biology at the California Institute of Technology. Other witnesses are James Kolotouros, for Google, and Brianploy, from Verizon Communications.

The government claims that the Alphabet Inc unit pays 10 billion US dollars (153 trillion) annually to wireless companies such as AT&T, device makers like Apple, and browser makers like Mozilla to confront competitors and keep its search engine market share close to 90%.

The government also alleges that Google is illegally taking steps to protect communications about the payments.

The government has summoned witnesses on Tuesday and Wednesday to show that Google, since the mid-2000s, is trying to attract a large number of search requests by obtaining default status on mobile devices. Another witness, Rangel, discussed how powerful this default status is, although the data used to show this has been largely deleted.

The government's claim is that Google's influence in the search has helped Google build monopolies in several aspects of online search advertising. A free search, so Google makes money through advertising.

Google's attorney, John Schmidtlein, said at the opening on Tuesday that the government was wrong to say that Google was breaking the law to maintain a large market share, saying their search engine was very popular because of its quality, and the payments were fair compensation to partners.

If Google is found to have violated the law, US District Judge Amit Mehta, who decides on the case, will decide how to do the best to solve it. He may order Google to stop practices deemed illegal or possibly order Google to sell assets.

The fighting had a huge impact on Big Tech, accused of buying or strangling small competitors, but defended themselves by emphasizing that their services are free, as in Google cases, or cheap, as in Amazon.com cases.

Previous major antitrust hearings including Microsoft, submitted in 1998, and AT&T, were proposed in 1974. The 1982 division of AT&T was considered the first step for the modern mobile phone industry, while the struggle with Microsoft was considered to open up space for Google and others on the internet.