Sundar Pichai Testifies in US Antitrust Case Against Google
On Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai encountered intense questioning from a US antitrust lawyer, as he defended his company against allegations of illegal actions aimed at maintaining the supremacy of its globally leading search engine.
At the heart of the US Justice Department’s case are Google’s massive revenue-sharing agreements, in which iPhone maker Apple takes a large cut of Google’s advertising revenue from the default search engine on Apple devices.
Evidence has revealed that Google paid $26 billion last year alone to remain the default search engine on various smartphones and browsers, most of which went to Apple.
Pichai began his testimony in a Washington courtroom by reiterating the company’s mission to make information “publicly available and useful” to everyone.
“The mission is more timeless and relevant than ever before,” Pichai said of the search for new contenders and advances in artificial intelligence.
But during two hours of questioning, US government lawyers tried to pick apart the claim.
The government forced Pichai to admit that Google’s default arrangement with Apple was essential to its business, using company emails, conversations and letters that were sometimes two decades old.
In one tense back-and-forth, Pich was presented with an internal memo from Google expressing concern that the iPhone’s Siri was “cannibalizing” searches on Apple devices.
In 2019, Pichai explained to Apple CEO Tim Cook that this could explain Apple’s lower-than-expected revenue from Google searches the previous year and could be corrected.
“Our vision is that we operate as one company” when it comes to search, Google said in a memo summarizing another high-level meeting between the two companies in 2018.
Playing an internal memo, Pichai claimed that the two tech giants were “fiercely competing for so many products,” but added that “there was perhaps an irrational exuberance in the success of the meeting.”
Pichai was also advised of business chats where he requested that the chat be turned “history off” so that the content would be automatically deleted after 24 hours.
The use of the feature has raised suspicions among US government lawyers that Pichai was trying to prevent incriminating conversations from being obtained as evidence.
