Washington DC:

Two of the world’s largest tech behemoths – Apple and Google – are participating together in what is increasingly seeming like an indefensible case. Billions and billions are at stake and Google, the world’s ‘default’ search engine, stares into the abyss.

There is much to lose for both tech giants – for Apple it could lead to losses worth tens of billions of dollars per year and an incomprehensible fallout on the accuracy of its results on features like Siri and Spotlight, whose framework is largely dependent on Google search. For Google, besides money and market share, it may result in the massive loss of its entire web browser – Chrome. It also faces another potential gigantic loss – its Android operating system.

And so, finding Google in a major spot of bother, Apple has sought to participate in the anti-trust trial against Google over its internet search engine. Apple on Tuesday said it needs to step in as it cannot rely on Google alone to defend the revenue-sharing agreements that the two firms have.

The epicenter of the case, which has sent tremors across Silicon Valley, lies in an agreement between Google and Apple, wherein the iPhone, iPad, and Macbook maker gets tens of billions of dollars each year for making Google the default search engine on its browser – Safari. In 2022 alone, Apple reportedly received in excess of $20 billion as a result of this very agreement.

The question at the heart of the case is simple – Has Google monopolised online search? According to Google – No, it has not.

A monopoly in simple business terms is a situation where a single company controls the entire market. In such a scenario it becomes difficult or sometimes impossible for the competition to compete due to the lack of a level-playing field.

Focusing on this very point, Apple’s lawyers submitted their papers to the court on Tuesday, in which they conveyed that Apple and Google are not competitors, and neither does Apple want to compete in the search engine space. It also said that that is how it will be whether or not Apple receives the billions of dollars from Google in future.

Apple, in its petition, also said it wants to call witnesses who will testify under oath at the trial scheduled for April 2025. On that day, the prosecutors will aim to highlight that Google absolutely must take multiple measures – two of them being selling its Chrome browser and possibly its Android operating system too. The prosecutors believe that only then will competition be restored in online search. But should this happen, it will be a fatal blow to Google.

While Google’s parent firm Alphabet is figuring a way to battle this grave threat to its existence, Apple, which understand the gravity of the situation has said “Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interests. Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units.”

Meanwhile, justifying its stand, Google has asserted that the entire premise of the case is based on exclusive deals – and that is what the focus of the case should be on, instead of an aim to breaking Google. It has even offered to put an end to such deals in future.

Besides ending the deal with Apple, Google has even suggested that it is willing to no longer enter any agreement with Android phone manufacturers which require the phone-maker to set Google as the default search engine in return for its operating system and supporting apps. Google also said that browser companies like Mozilla would be given more flexibility in setting rival search engines as its default search. This, according to Google’s lawyers, is a fair solution to make the market more competitive.

Between now and the crucial hearing in April, Google is doing all it can to defend itself and limit its losses should it lose the groundbreaking case.

The US Department of Justice vs Google is poised to be a defining moment for the global tech industry – a landmark case that may just reshape how the world uses the internet.
 

California:

Google agreed to pay $155 million to settle claims by California and private plaintiffs that the search engine company misled consumers about how it tracks their locations, and used their data without consent. Both settlements resolve claims that the Alphabet Inc unit deceived people into believing they maintained control over how Google collected and used their personal data.

The company was accused of being able to “profile” people and target them with advertising even if they turned off their “Location History” setting, and deceive people about their ability to block ads they did not want.

“Google was telling its users one thing–that it would no longer track their location once they opted out–but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users’ movements for its own commercial gain,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “That’s unacceptable.”

The California settlement requires Google to pay $93 million, and disclose more about how it tracks people’s whereabouts and uses data it collects.

Money from Google’s $62 million settlement with private plaintiffs would, after deducting legal fees, go to court-approved nonprofit groups that track internet privacy concerns.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said this made sense because it was “infeasible” to distribute money to the approximately 247.7 million U.S. adults with mobile devices.

Some critics say this type of settlement, known as “cy pres,” offers little benefit to class members.

Google denied liability, and both settlements require court approval.

Last November, Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to resolve similar allegations by 40 U.S. states.

The Mountain View, California-based company has also reached $124.9 million of settlements with Arizona and Washington.

A spokesperson for Google on Friday referred to a blog post discussing the multistate settlement, and said it related to “outdated product policies that we changed years ago.”

Lawyers for the private plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Google generated $110.9 billion of advertising revenue in the first half of 2023, accounting for 81% of its total $137.7 billion of revenue.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)