Over the past two and a half weeks, Google has called a dozen witnesses to defend itself against claims by the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general that it illegally maintained a search and advertising monopoly, in a landmark antitrust case that could reshape tech power.Google’s lawyers stated that it paid Apple and other tech platforms an appropriate amount of money to ensure that its search engine was the default choice on the iPhone and other devices. The company argued that other search engines were unable to compete for default status on browsers due to the poor quality of their products, and cited the example of Mozilla’s partnership with Yahoo. Google also argued that its efforts helped consumers and fostered competition by investing more than its rivals in making its product great and by setting the pace for tech advancements. Finally, Google argued that its actions have been competitive on balance, not anticompetitive.
