Satya Nadella’s Remarks at Google’s Antitrust Hearing: 10 Takeaways

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appeared in court on Monday as a key witness for the US in the ongoing antitrust trial against Google. The trial centers around allegations that Google is engaging in illegal and unfair practices to maintain its monopoly and prevent competition. During his lengthy testimony, Nadella highlighted various points to support these claims, including Google’s exclusive deals that have made it the default choice for consumers. He also argued that the internet has essentially become the “Google web.” Here are 10 key statements made by Satya Nadella during the antitrust trial.

10 things Satya Nadella said in Google’s antitrust lawsuit

1. Nadella explained that the search engine segment is “by far the largest software category” and that Microsoft didn’t need to be the category leader to make a profit from the Bing business. “I thought of Windows and Office as attractive companies until I saw the search,” he added.

2. In emphasizing the role of default values in shaping consumer behavior, Microsoft’s CEO referred to Google’s agreements with Apple, where the former became the default search engine on all Apple devices. He said if Microsoft got the chance to become the default in Safari, “that would be a game changer.” He added, “Default settings are the only thing that matters in terms of changing user behavior.”

3. Nadella also said that the internet is really “the Google web, emphasizing the company’s influence and power over consumers by being the default search experience on smartphones, tablets and web browsers.

4. He also called the notion that user behavior is easy to change “wrong.” “We are one of the options, but we are not the default,” he added.

5. Nadella also looked to the future, expressing concern that a similar battle between the two companies could arise over AI, which was inevitably skewed away from winning the market. “Despite my excitement that there’s a new perspective with A.I., I’m very concerned that this vicious cycle I’m trapped in could become even tighter,” he said.

6. Nadella also cited the “problematic” behavior of tech companies entering into exclusive deals with major content providers, which are a big part of people’s lives online. “When I meet with publishers now, they say Google writes this check, and it’s exclusive, and you have to match it,” Nadella said.

7. The Microsoft CEO also emphasized that the AI competition will also become more one-sided because Google dominates the content of major websites. Calling search engines the “organizing layer of the Internet,” he was referring to the system in which website owners allow search engines to index content in order to rank on the results page.

8. Pointing out the problem with exclusivity deals, Nadella asked, “What’s publicly available today, will it be publicly available tomorrow?” He mentioned that many publishers asked Microsoft to match the price offered by Google for exclusivity, which meant that these websites and content platforms might not even appear on Bing.

9. He also defended the position that despite the integration of Bing and Edge on Windows PCs, the popularity of Google search and the Chrome browser showed that defaults don’t matter. Nadella said Bing’s market share on Windows is somewhere in the teens (11 to 20 percent) compared to the “low, low single digits” on mobile, which is important context to understand why the defaults were important.

10. Responding to Judge Amit Mehta, who asked the Microsoft CEO for his opinion on whether users can easily switch search engines, Nadella said, “My only argument against it is that users don’t switch.” He gave the example of Apple Maps, which had a terrible start due to glitches and problems, but still gained market share over the past decade because it comes pre-installed with every iPhone. “People use it, it’s the default,” he added.