Tech

Google paying over $10bn a year to maintain monopoly - US antitrust trial hears

Court hears claim that Google had “weaponised” the use of default agreements to discourage rivals

The monopolisation trial is the first pitting the federal government against a US technology company in more than two decades

A high-stakes antitrust trial opened in Washington on Tuesday with the US justice department claiming that Google pays over $10 billion a year to maintain its position as the default search engine on web browsers and mobile devices.

“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” Kenneth Dintzer, a government lawyer, said in his opening statement. “The evidence will show they demanded default exclusivity ...