Microsoft CEO Accuses Google of Unfair Practices Resulting in Search Engine Dominance

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, which in turn has crippled his company’s rival, Bing.

Nadella testified in a packed Washington DC courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

The Justice Department alleges that Google has abused its dominance as a ubiquitous search engine to limit competition and innovation at the expense of consumers. The allegations mirror a similar case brought against Microsoft in the late 1990s.

Nadella said Google’s dominance came from deals that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers.

He played down the idea that artificial intelligence or smaller search engines like Amazon or social media sites have significantly changed the market in which Microsoft competes with Google.

Nadella said that users basically don’t have much choice when it comes to switching out the default browsers on mobile phones and computers.

“We’re one of the options, but we’re not the default,” he said.

Google’s general counsel, John Schmidtlein, questioned Nadella about cases where users switched from Bing to Google despite Microsoft’s search engine being in default mode on devices — arguing that Microsoft made mistakes with Bing that prevented it from competing against Google.

When asked, Nadella denied that Bing’s introduction of AI would have led to dramatic changes in its market share. Google has argued that AI programs such as chatbot ChatGPT have increased competition in the search engine market.

“Even app store downloads are interesting, but not … something to write home about,” Nadella said of Microsoft’s revamped search engine, enhanced with artificial intelligence.

Nadella was called to the witness stand as the largest US antitrust trial in the past quarter century entered its fourth week of testimony before US District Judge Amit Mehta, who is not expected to rule on the case until next year.

The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google centers on agreements the company made with Apple and other device manufacturers to use Google’s search engine.

In the 1990s, Microsoft faced accusations that it installed its Windows software in ways that blocked applications made by other tech companies, just as Google now faces accusations of paying billions of dollars each year to lock down its search engine. a place to find online information on smartphones and web browsers.

In an ironic twist, the restrictions and distractions caused by the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft helped provide a springboard for Google to turn its search engine into a dominant force.

Microsoft began its quest to develop its own search engine, Google had already become synonymous with finding things on the Internet.

But Microsoft has nevertheless poured billions of dollars into trying to mount a serious challenge to Google with Bing, and at one point even tried to buy Yahoo for more than $40 billion in a bid that was rejected while Steve Ballmer was still the software maker’s CEO. .

Nadella, who worked at Microsoft in the late 1990s during the Justice Department’s antitrust crackdown, succeeded Ballmer as CEO in 2014.

During his tenure, he has guided Microsoft to massive gains in personal and cloud services, boosting the company’s stock price nearly ninefold since he took over and generating more than $2 trillion for shareholders.

Despite all this success, it has failed to make significant headway in search against Google, and Bing is still a long way off in the market. (AP) RHL