Google trial wraps up as judge weighs landmark US antitrust claims
Google and the US Justice Department wrapped up closing arguments on Friday over claims that the Alphabet unit has unlawfully dominated web search and related advertising, in a case the government contends could shape the «future of the internet.»
US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington for hours grilled both sides with questions, probing whether competitive platforms such as ByteDance's TikTok and Meta's Facebook and Instagram are competitive substitutes for search advertising dollars.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIIT DelhiIITD Certificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisit Mehta said a central issue was platform «substitute-ability» for advertisers, which the court must resolve. He will now begin preparing to render a major decision on whether Google's conduct broke civil antitrust law. He did not indicate when he would rule, but experts say he could potentially order changes to Google's business practices.
Mehta also questioned whether Google assesses competitors' pricing before making its own adjustments. Google's advertising business is responsible for about three quarters of its revenue.
US government lawyer David Dahlquist argued that «advertising revenue is what drives Google's monopoly power today.»
Google has boasted it feels no real market pressures, Dahlquist said, arguing that the company does not fear increasing its pricing or
