Sundar Pichai to Testify in Antitrust Case Regarding Google’s Search Dominance

Scheduled for Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify in the antitrust trial against the company, aiming to challenge the US government’s depiction of the search giant as a dominant force using its vast financial resources to stifle competition.

Pichai arrives after seven weeks of testimony that said Alphabet Inc. pays up to $26 billion a year to make Google the default search engine on cellphones, computers and other devices. The Justice Department argues that Google knows that most people won’t change their default settings even when other options are available, and that Best Positioning blocks competitors such as Microsoft Corp.’s Bing or DuckDuckGo. It also benefits Apple Inc., which makes billions of dollars by setting Google as the default in the iPhone’s Safari browser and collects a share of search advertising revenue.

Pichai is expected to reiterate Google’s defense that its success comes primarily from innovation and providing useful products, according to a person familiar with the matter. Earlier in the lawsuit, Google attorney John Schmidtlein said the company’s default contracts were strictly based on merit and that users could change their preferences and choose a different search engine “within seconds.”

The board is likely to ask Pichai why Google, which has 90 percent of the search market, needs to pay Apple for this position if its product is so good that people would choose it over other offerings anyway. The answer, the government has so far suggested, is that Google has used its prime position to extract more money from advertisers — often by making opaque changes to the rules that govern the ad auctions in which the companies participate.

Pichai says the contracts play a valuable role in helping consumers easily access Google, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named to discuss the information, which is not public.

The CEO has a long history at Google, where he has held various positions, such as helping to design the Android strategy and directing the development of the Chrome browser. In 2016, Pichai was Google’s chief negotiator with Apple and helped seal the partnership, which included a stipulation that both would “support and defend” the deal from antitrust enforcement, according to a senior Apple executive in the lawsuit. The Justice Department has said that Google pays Apple $4 billion to $7 billion a year for its default, though the exact numbers are not public.

In government emails released so far, Pichai has been shown expressing concern about making Google the default and favoring choice. In 2007, Pichai wrote in internal emails to colleagues that Google’s exclusivity with Apple had bad “optics” and that they should encourage Apple to offer Yahoo as an option in the drop-down menu. “I don’t think it’s a good user experience, and the optics aren’t good that we’re the only editor in the browser,” he wrote, according to an email presented at trial.

The Justice Department is also likely to ask Pichai about his instructions to staff to avoid creating permanent recordings of sensitive conversations about potentially problematic behavior. In an October 2021 chat provided as a trial exhibit by Justice Department attorney Kenneth Dintzer, Pichai wrote: “Can we change this group’s setting to history off… please.” Other Google executives also shared guidance with staff on phrases to avoid so they wouldn’t end up in monopolies.

Judge Amit Mehta is not expected to rule until next year, and the case is likely years away from resolution. If the Ministry of Justice wins, an appeal will be filed and a possible second trial will be organized to find legal remedies.