The company is trying to illustrate that its dominance in the search business is mainly due to its superior product. Google has drawn the attention of regulators on multiple occasions for its practices. It is currently appealing a $5 billion fine imposed by the EU over its alleged anti-competitive practices with Android.
Google’s lawyers gave out the information at the EU General Court
“People use Google because they choose to, not because they are forced to. Google’s market share in general search is consistent with consumer surveys showing that 95% of users prefer Google to rival search engines,” said Alfonso Lamadrid, the lawyer representing Alphabet Inc. The ruling in this case previously said that Google “unfairly” killed rival search apps by making Google Search the default option. Bing happens to be the default browser on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. It is also the default search engine on the Microsoft Edge browser. Earlier this week, Google’s lawyers accused EU regulators of ignoring Apple and its violations. The company also alleged that regulators downplayed “the potent constraint imposed by the highly powerful Apple.” However, the counsel representing the Commission, Nicholas Khan, rejected the allegations. He added that the two companies have different business models. Furthermore, the lawyer said that Google paid manufacturers to install Google Search on their phones. In a separate case, EU authorities started investigations into allegations that Google was forcing companies to use Google Assistant as the default virtual assistant on phones and tablets. In June this year, EU regulators said that several OEMs have expressed dissatisfaction with the company’s move. In July this year, French authorities issued a €500 million fine on Google for refusing to negotiate a fair deal with news publishers. The penalty was imposed based on the Digital Copyright Directive Law passed by French authorities in 2019.
