DuckDuckGo founder says Google's phone and manufacturing partnerships thwart competition
The founder of the small search engine company DuckDuckGo is testifying against Google in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter of a century
WASHINGTON — Appearing in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg testified Thursday that it was hard for his small search engine company to compete with Google because the powerhouse has deals with phone companies and equipment manufacturers to make its product the default search option on so many devices.
“We hit an obstacle with Google's contracts,'' Weinberg said in U.S. District Court in Washington.
The U.S. Department of Justice argues that Google has smothered competition by paying companies such as Apple and Verizon to lock in its search engine as the default choice — the first one users see — on many laptops and smartphones. Google counters that it dominates the internet search market because its product is better than the competition.
Even when it holds the default spot on smartphones and other devices, Google argues, users can switch to rival search engines with a couple of clicks.
But Weinberg testified that getting users to switch from Google was complicated, requiring as many as 30 to 50 steps to change defaults on all their devices, whereas the process could be shortened to just one click on each device.
“The search defaults are the primary barrier,'' he said. «It's too many steps.''
The MIT graduate started DuckDuckGo in his basement in Pennsylvania in 2008, plucking its name from a children’s game. After a couple years, the company began positioning itself as a search engine that respects people’s privacy by promising not to track what users search for or where they have been. Such tracking results can be used to
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