The US government's lawyers said Google should be banned from offering "anything of value for any form" of search distribution.
For instance, if most people click on the third result for a particular query, Google's search engine will likely adjust and rank that result higher in the future.
They know that the search business is mainly about distribution, and Google may not be able to do this now.
"We believe Google's default search placements via contractual agreements represent 50%+ of Google's US search queries," he estimated on Thursday.
If half of Google's search queries go away, that could threaten the self-reinforcing cycle of user click data improving its results.
Persons:
Mark Mahaney, —, Kent Walker
Organizations:
DOJ, Google, US Department of Justice, Chrome, US, Apple
Locations:
Google's