The U.S. government is presenting its antitrust case against Alphabet’s Google on Friday, focusing on accusations that Google broke the law to maintain dominance in search advertising. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sought clarity on the case during Thursday’s session.
The Justice Department has argued that Google is a monopolist that abused its power to increase profits. The trial, which began on Sept. 12, has seen the government scrutinize Google’s business contracts, including annual payments of $26.3 billion in 2021 to secure its search as the default on smartphones and browsers.
While Google claims that search advertising markets are competitive, the government alleges that Google manipulated ad auctions and could raise prices without repercussions. Judge Mehta is expected to address the government’s claim that Google intentionally deleted internal documents relevant to the case.
Google defends its data preservation practices and argues that its search advertising technologies are valuable to advertisers, with continuous improvements in quality and output. The court is not expected to issue an immediate ruling.
This case, initiated by the Trump administration, is the first of five aimed at curbing the market power of tech giants. The second case, against Meta (formerly Facebook), was also filed during the Trump administration, while the Biden administration has pursued cases against Amazon.com and Apple Inc.
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