Google CEO acknowledges importance of being default search engine in US trial

FILE PHOTO: Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, reacts during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday acknowledged the importance of making its search engine the default in keeping users loyal -- a key point in a once-in-a generation U.S. antitrust fight focused on billions of dollars Google paid to be the default on laptops and smartphones.

Google, which started paying for default status on devices in 2005, monitored for compliance. At one point, the company expressed concern to Apple that its Safari browser would send particular queries, especially lucrative ones, to companies like Amazon.com.