During the reign of the Trump administration, a lawsuit was filed against Google by the United States Department of Justice. The lawsuit was the first ever antitrust action against the U.S. based tech giant which claimed that Google had used unfair means to eliminate their competition and maintain dominance in the market. On Thursday, April 13th, Google requested a court to toss the anti-trust lawsuit against them and called it baseless.
The Lawsuit
The Justice Department also cited a deal that Google had set up with Apple and other smartphone manufacturers which use Google’s android operating system. The lawsuit also argues that Google’s methods to maintain their monopoly will harm not only their competitors but also the consumers of the search engine. The Department of Justice had sued Google after going through the results of investigations done by them, the Congress and the 50 states of the country. The lawsuit also claimed that a reduced competition would lead to reduced innovation and would eventually leave people with lesser options. This could possibly end the market for Google rivals who are better for user privacy. Currently, the tech giant’s behavior in the advertising domain is also being looked into.
The Deal with Apple:
The lawsuit claimed that Google was making illegal attempts to maintain their market dominance as the most used search engine through its deals with companies like Apple. As a part of its deal with the Tim Cook led company, Google pays Apple billions of dollars each year just to be set up as the default search engine on the devices manufactured by the company. Now you know why your iPhones and Macs use Google by default.
The Justice Department also went after the deals that Google has with other smartphone manufacturers. If you are not an iOS user, it is established that you use an android in majority of the cases. The android operating system developed by Google also uses the company as its default browser. In most cases, it is also not possible to remove the browser from an android device. In the year 2019 alone, Google, the Alphabet owned company generated close to $34 billion dollars for its parent through its online advertising.
Google’s Defense:
Google claimed that it is not a dominant search engine and other engines like them are available openly in the market. They said that their competitors are just a click away and the only reason they are being used over others is because they are a superior product. The company argued that the deals that it has set up with Apple and other companies do not violate any law. They further said that users of Apple or android devices are free to use any other search engine if they want to and they lead the search market because people prefer to use them.
Attempt to get the lawsuit rejected:
Recently, Google attempted to get the lawsuit to end in a court but to no avail. The lawyer representing Google argued that Google was a superior product and having a winning product is by no means unlawful. However, Kenneth Dintzer from the Department of Justice claimed that Google being one of the highest share holders in the market cannot make deals that other smaller companies in the same market can. Google said that their deal with Apple is not meant to eliminate competitors but rather serves as a revenue sharing opportunity.
The future:
The Department of Justice argues that there could have been a lot more innovation and development in the field if Google had not taken such measures. They feel like the continuity of such deals could hamper the possibility of any innovation in the field. The decision on the matter is to be made by Judge Amit Mehta in the District Court in Columbia. The trial for the case is supposed to be in September.
