Google antitrust trial: $10B spent per year to keep monopoly: DOJ

The US Justice Department’s epic trial against Google kicked off on Tuesday with prosecutors claiming that the tech giant “pays more than $10 billion per year” to companies including Apple to protect the dominance of its ubiquitous search engine.

In addition to big smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung, the DOJ accused Google of paying eye-watering sums to wireless internet service providers including AT&T and browser makers like Mozilla in order to maintain its 91% share of the search engine market.

In what is seen as the most important antitrust monopoly trial of the modern internet era — a battle that’s expected to stretch for 10 weeks — the DOJ’s lead attorney Kenneth Dintzer blasted the yearly payments as a “feedback loop” that has unfairly helped Google sideline competitors.

“This wheel has been turning for more than 12 years,” Dintzer said during opening statements in a Washington, DC, federal courthouse. “And it always turns to Google’s advantage.”