The US government highlighted key parts of its antitrust arguments against Alphabet’s Google on Thursday, wrapping up the evidentiary phase of a court battle in which it has accused the tech company of breaking the law with its tactics used to dominate online search.
In the trial that started on September 12 and is expected to largely end Thursday, the Justice Department is seeking to prove that Google is a monopolist and illegally abused that monopoly power to favor its own bottom line.
No decision on whether to hold closing arguments, the final phase of the trial, has been made. They may be held in the spring, according to courtroom discussions about future hearings.
Witnesses from Verizon, Android maker Samsung and Google itself have previously testified about the company’s annual payments – $26.3 billion in 2021 – to ensure that its search is the default on smartphones and browsers and to keep its market share in the stratosphere.
The final witness for the US, MIT economics professor Michael Whinston, argued as the hearing began that those contracts helped provide Google with market power in the search advertising market and that “Google has exercised significant market power by raising prices.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Thembisa Mdoda to host Mommy Club reunion
South African presenter and TV star, Thembisa Mdoda, will be hosting the hotly anticipated reunion for The Mommy Club. Showmax’s latest hit reality show has swept the country in 2023. The Mommy Club featured a cast of some of Mzansi’s most entertaining, lavish and lively mothers in what was an exciting first season for the show.
The season finale left a lot of questions unanswered and viewers have been eagerly awaiting the reunion show which will hopefully provide some closure once and for all. We’ve just learned that the host for the reunion special will be none other than the talented Thembisa Mdoda. Read more
