Google’s European search menu draws interest of U.S. antitrust investigators
Justice Dept. lawyers probe differences in the preference setup
OAKLAND. >> For the last few months, some people who bought a new smartphone in Europe with Google’s Android software were presented with an extra option while setting up the device: choosing a search engine other than Google.
This so-called choice menu started appearing on new smartphones and tablet computers running Google software after March, part of an effort by the internet giant to address a 2018 ruling from European authorities that the company had abused its dominance in smartphone software to unfairly give an advantage to its search engine.
The move to provide users with an easy choice in search
To placate European regulators, Google has started giving Android phone users a choice in search engines when they set up their devices. U.S. consumers do not have the same option.
has now caught the attention of the Justice Department lawyers who are preparing to bring antitrust charges against the internet giant as early as this summer, according to an executive who has interacted with antitrust investigators. A case would be one of the biggest monopoly actions taken by the
United States in decades, and department officials are looking at whether what Google has done for its European customers could make sense for customers in the United States.
Over the last year, the Justice Department and state attorneys general have been investigating the company’s business practices around web search and online advertising technology. Google controls about 90% of web searches globally, and it captures about one-third of every dollar spent on online advertising.
Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine, said Justice Department officials investigating Google’s search business have asked the company on several occasions in the last month for details about the preference menu and the impact it could make in leveling the playing field.
“They had a lot of very pointed questions,” said Weinberg, who made similar remarks in an article published earlier by Bloomberg. He did not discuss specific questions.
As the Justice Department prepares its case against Google, the keen interest in the Android phone’s preference menu offers insight into the focus of the investigation and one potential approach that would
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