It is one of the most significant steps so far in a global push by governments to rein in Big Tech’s market power through regulation and legal action.
The U.S. government’s lawsuit zeroes in on the deals that Google has signed with other companies to make its search engine the default option on browsers and mobile phones. In return for being the default search engine, Google shares some of its advertising revenue with those companies. For example, the documents say that in 2015, a major U.S. mobile carrier considered asking phone manufacturers to install a different search engine on their devices. In response, a Google executive said such a move should lead to a termination of the revenue-sharing agreement and end support for Google apps on those devices, according to court documents.
The coming trial is expected to run for two months. Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and other tech-industry executives are expected to be among the witnesses called.