Google’s Sundar Pichai defends search dominance as rivals circle

Pichai arrives at the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, on Oct 30, 2023. In his first appearance at the trial, Pichai said when Google’s longtime contract with Apple was renegotiated in 2016, he wanted to make sure that the default was ‘preserved’ as it had been for years. — AP

Alphabet Inc’s chief executive officer Sundar Pichai sought to portray Google’s position as the dominant Internet search engine as constantly challenged by the whims of rivals such as Apple Inc, as he took the witness stand on Oct 30 to defend his company against the US government’s antitrust charges.

The Justice Department argues that by paying as much as US$26bil (RM123.91bil) in 2021 to be the default on mobile phones, PCs and other devices, Google has unfairly choked off potential competitors such as Microsoft Corp and DuckDuckGo. Even Apple has opted not to create its own search engine or give priority to other options because of the lucrative, multibillion-dollar deal it has with Google, the government has argued.