Google boss Sundar Pichai on May 10, 2023 in Mountain View, California (AFP/Archives/Josh Edelson)
Sundar Pichai, the boss of Google, defended himself in court on Monday against accusations that his company acted illegally to preserve the dominant position of his search engine, the most used in the world.
According to the US Department of Justice, the Californian group built its empire through illegal exclusivity contracts with companies like Apple, so that its tool was installed by default on their devices and services.
The historic trial, which has been taking place since September 12 in Washington, has already revealed that Google spent $26 billion last year to remain the default search engine on various smartphones and internet browsers. Most of this amount was paid to Apple.
Mr. Pichai began his testimony in the Washington courtroom by reiterating the company’s mission, according to him: to make information “universally accessible and useful” to everyone.
“This mission is more timeless and relevant than ever,” Pichai said, given new competitors in online search and advances in artificial intelligence.
But during two hours of questions, U.S. government lawyers attempted to debunk that claim.
Relying on emails, discussions and letters dating back sometimes 20 years, the government pushed Mr. Pichai to admit that the default agreement between Google and Apple was essential to the company.
In a tense exchange, the executive was presented with an internal memo in which Google expressed concern that some user searches on iPhones were being “cannibalized” by Apple’s voice assistant, Siri.
In 2019, Sundar Pichai explained to Apple CEO Tim Cook that this could explain Apple’s lower-than-expected revenue from Google searches the previous year, and that it could be fixed.
“Our vision is that we work as one company” when it comes to online search, a Google memo said, summarizing another high-level meeting between the two companies in 2018.
Sundar Pichai responded to the memo by insisting that the two tech giants “compete fiercely on many products”, while adding that “there was perhaps some irrational exuberance about how the meeting went ahead.”
Mr. Pichai was also asked about the automatic deletion of recordings of internal discussions.
Government lawyers suspect the boss tried to prevent incriminating conversations from being presented as evidence.
© 2023 AFP
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