The Justice Department says the payments to companies like Apple, AT&T and Mozilla helped keep its search engine’s market share at around 90 per cent.
Google argued on Tuesday that the US was wrong to say the search and advertising giant broke the law to hold onto its massive market share, noting its search engine was wildly popular because of its quality and that dissatisfied users could switch with âa few easy clicksâ.
The US Justice Department has accused Alphabetâs Google of paying US$10 billion annually to device makers like Apple, wireless companies like AT&T, and browser makers like Mozilla to keep its search engineâs market share at around 90 per cent.
Googleâs search engine is a key part of its business, driving advertising sales and other areas of profit for the worldâs fourth most valuable company.
âThis case is about the future of the internet,â said Kenneth Dintzer, arguing for the Justice Department that Google began in 2010 to illegally maintain its monopoly.
The US Justice Department has accused Alphabetâs Google of paying US$10 billion annually to device makers like Apple, wireless companies like AT&T, and browser makers like Mozilla to keep its search engineâs market share at around 90 per cent.
Googleâs search engine is a key part of its business, driving advertising sales and other areas of profit for the worldâs fourth most valuable company.
âThis case is about the future of the internet,â said Kenneth Dintzer, arguing for the Justice Department that Google began in 2010 to illegally maintain its monopoly.
But Googleâs lawyer, John Schmidtlein, said the payments compensate partners for the work of making sure that the software gets timely security updates and other maintenance.
âUsers today have more search options and more ways to access information online than ever before,â Schmidtlein added. He went on to say Google won competitions that Apple and Mozilla held to pick the best search engines.
