The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway.

The legal attack will swing into full force Tuesday in a Washington D.C. federal courtroom that will serve as the battleground for the biggest U.S. antitrust trial since regulators went after Microsoft and its dominance of personal computer software a quarter century ago.

The 10-week trial before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is expected to include potentially revelatory testimony from top executives at Google and its corporate parent Alphabet, as well as other powerful technology companies. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page in 2019, will be among the most prominent witnesses likely to testify. Court documents also indicate one of Apple’s highest-ranking executives, Eddy Cue, might be called to the stand.

The case against Google mirrors the one brought against Microsoft in many ways, including the existential threat it poses to a renowned tech giant whose products are relied on by billions of people.

  • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Google’s dominance of internet search is being challenged by how fucking useless the results have become in the last ten years.

    As much as government regulation is important, you can almost always rely on a capitalist business to run themselves into the ground in pursuit of profit above all else.

    • strawberry@artemis.camp
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      1 year ago

      how are they useless? I usually use ddg, but there are many times I need to go back to Google because their results are just better

      • Taleya
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        1 year ago

        gamed to fuck. Google doesn’t show you relevant or useful rsults, it just shows you who has the better SEO team.

      • bobman@unilem.org
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        1 year ago

        It’s very difficult to find anything that isn’t manipulating the search engine.

    • esadatari@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      unfortunately that works up until a point. past a certain point of engrained expectations and ubiquitous adoption by a majority of society, it no longer works.

      google has gotten to that point.

      google needs to be broken up, regardless, for the people not smart enough to adapt to using another search engine.

      and guess what: if google gets broken up, a lot more people also won’t use google anymore, and then you get your wish!