Google Defends Safari Deal with Apple in Antitrust Case Appeal

Google appeals an antitrust case involving Safari (photo: dok. unsplash)

Google is appealing to a US court to overturn an antitrust ruling against its search engine business. According to Google, its deal with Apple is legitimate competition.

The case began when the US Department of Justice won an antitrust lawsuit against Google in August 2024. The judge then imposed new restrictions, including prohibiting exclusive agreements and limiting the default contract period to a maximum of 12 months.

The restriction of the annual contract opens up a huge opportunity for competitors to seize Google's position in Apple's ecosystem. Therefore, Google appealed in the hope that the higher court could restore their business contract freedom without coercive sanctions.

In its appeal document, Google assessed that the district court had made a number of legal errors. Some of them are defining the search market too narrowly and imposing sanctions that force Google to share data and search results with its competitors.

Google also disagreed with the decision of the district court which considered that the cooperation in placing the default search engine in the Safari browser was an illegal exclusive agreement.

Google insists that mobile phone manufacturers often choose their services because of the high quality and advertising monetization value. The preferences of users in various parts of the world are also the main reason why Google's position is difficult to be replaced by other search engines.

Although its status is the default search engine in Safari, Google explained that other competitors are still available for Apple users. They can change the browser settings if they want to use search services from other companies.

This defense argument was also strengthened by the testimony of Apple's senior executives. The company considers that their decision to choose Google is the most beneficial step for consumers.

"Although Microsoft offers to pay Apple 100 percent of the search advertising revenue generated if Bing is made the default search engine, Apple believes that they will earn lower revenue because users will leave Bing as the default and switch to Google," said Apple's Senior Vice President of Services and Health, Eddy Cue, quoted from 9to5mac on Monday, May 25.