First out of the gate, the government questioned a former Google executive, Chris Barton, about billion-dollar deals with mobile carriers and others that helped make Google the default search engine.
Google's clout in search, the government argues, has helped Google build monopolies in some aspects of online search advertising.
In revenue-sharing deals with mobile carriers and Android smartphone makers, Google pressed for its search to be the default and exclusive.
If Microsoft's search engine Bing was the default on an Android phone, Barton said, then users would have a "difficult time finding or changing to Google."
Barton said on his LinkedIn profile that he was responsible for leading Google's partnerships with mobile carriers like Verizon (VZ.N) and AT&T, estimating that the deals "drive hundreds of millions in revenue."
Persons:
Chris Barton, Barton, Bing, Hal Varian, John Schmidtlein, Judge Amit Mehta, Mehta, Diane Bartz, Nick Zieminski, Richard Chang, Howard Goller
Organizations:
Justice, Google, Inc, Apple, Mozilla, Verizon, Big Tech, Microsoft, Thomson
Locations:
U.S