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The Story: Yesterday, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, took the stand to testify in the company’s antitrust lawsuit with the Department of Justice. The DOJ alleges the tech giant has engaged in anticompetitive practices related to its search engine marketplace dominance.

The landmark trial is the biggest antitrust lawsuit brought against a Big Tech company in the 21st century.

It was revealed during the trial yesterday that Google had paid over $26 billion dollars in 2021 to be the default search engine on smartphones and internet browsers. Partners in this deal included Apple, Samsung, AT&T, and Mozilla, among many others.

Google argued that the $26.3 billion number was highly sensitive information and should not have been submitted to the public record. The team was unsuccessful in convincing the judge of this fact, however.

Following the undesired reveal of the number on Friday, Google’s lawyers brought the company’s CEO to the stand to testify on Monday for the first time through the first eight weeks of the trial.

Pichai’s testimony was primarily focused on defending the company’s methods of search prioritization. The CEO attributed the tech company’s success to innovation and focus into Google Chrome, its internet browser, stating that, “It became very clear early on that if you make the user’s experience better, they would use the web more, they would enjoy using the web more, and they would search more in Google as well.”

During cross-examination by the Department of Justice, Pichai admitted that Google:

1. Pays for exclusivity on a device-by-device basis.

2. Was “obviously doing the deal for default placement.”

3. Outcompeted Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which stagnated because the company was not incentivized to innovate its tech like Chrome was.

The CEO emphasized that Google has always been on the side of consumers, which is why it has spent so much money and resources on providing a superior search engine.

The Google and DOJ trial is expected to continue into early 2024.

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