DuckDuckGo says market share constrained by rival Google's huge wallet

FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Paresh Dave/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CEO of internet search engine company DuckDuckGo testified on Thursday that his company struggled to grow its market share because Google was paying key companies billions of dollars to keep its search engine as the default on computers or mobile devices.

THE TAKE: DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg, who was testifying at a trial in Washington to determine if Alphabet's Google broke US antitrust law, was meant to support the U.S. government's argument that Google's big pockets were used to illegally hold back its smaller rivals.