The United State’s Department of Justice on Tuesday filed antitrust charges against Alphabet’s Google that focus on the company’s internet search engine and search-related advertising.
Reinhardt Krause for Investor’s Business Daily:
Eleven Republican state attorneys general joined the Justice Department lawsuit, which said Google’s actions harmed consumers and competition. The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that Google has “unlawfully maintained monopolies in search and search advertising by entering into exclusivity agreements that forbid pre-installation of any competing search service.” Google sought to make its search engine “undeletable, regardless of consumer preference,” the complaint alleges.
The Justice Department accused Google of “entering into long-term agreements with Apple that require Google to be the default — and de facto exclusive — general search engine on Apple’s popular Safari browser and other Apple search tools.”
The federal antitrust lawsuit could take years to resolve. The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit focuses on the internet search business. But it reportedly still is probing Google’s digital ad business, reports say. In addition, state attorneys general could file separate lawsuits versus Google.
MacDailyNews Take: Although most users never do, hence the Apple-Google multi-billion-dollar search deal citation by the DOJ in their antitrust charges against Google, you can change your default search engine on Apple devices:
iOS / iPadOS:
• Settings app > Search Engine > Choose from Google, Yahoo, Bing, or DuckDuckGo
macOS:
• Safari > Preferences > Search > Search engine: Choose from Google, Yahoo, Bing, or DuckDuckGo
Note: Yahoo is just a rebadged version of the Microsoft’s Bing search engine, so users really have only three choices: Google, Bing/Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo.