Google is currently in court over an antitrust ruling filed in 2018 by the European Union. Along with the ruling, it was fined nearly $5 billion after the tech giant was accused of allegedly using unfair tactics to crush any competing search engines, creating a monopoly in the market. Google of course denies this, with its lawyers arguing that people genuinely enjoy using their search engine and nothing malicious was going on.
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In court on Thursday, Google argued that people simply choose to use its search engine because they like it so much. To prove this, Google's legal team pointed out that on Microsoft Bing, the most searched word is "Google."
“We have submitted data showing that the most common search query on Bing is by far the term Google,” a Google lawyer said, as reported by Bloomberg.
Google’s legal team continued, explaining that “People use Google because they choose to, not because they are forced to.” The search giant also pointed out in court that its market share in Europe matches consumer research showing that “95% of users prefer Google to competing search engines.”
See also: ACCC: Accuses Google of "systemic competition problems"
The reason Google is in court is due to an antitrust order and fine issued in 2018 by the European Union. EU lawyers explained why the order was filed in court, citing three main reasons that included the following:
- Phone manufacturers were forced to pre-install Chrome on their phones after the company refused to grant them a license to use the Google Play Storeif they didn't.
- The company paid network providers and manufacturers to pre-install only the Google search app on all their devices.
- It prevented companies from selling phones or tablets with alternative versions of Android if they didn't play by those rules.
Source of information: kotaku.com
