Apple’s Top Executives Likely to Be Deposed in US Antitrust Probe Against Google

Google has been accused of paying billions of dollars each year to Apple, Samsung, and others to make Google's search engine the default on their devices.

By Reuters | Updated: 12 February 2022 13:36 IST

Apple’s Top Executives Likely to Be Deposed in US Antitrust Probe Against Google

Photo Credit: Reuters

The US Justice Department sued Google in October 2020

Highlights

The US government is preparing to determine if Google broke antitrust law
It has sought depositions of "Apple's most senior executives."
Google is accused of paying to have Google search as the default engine

The Justice Department wants to depose some of Apple's top executives as it prepares for a trial to determine if Alphabet's Google broke antitrust law in how it runs its search business, a lawyer representing Apple said on Friday. In its complaint, the Justice Department accused Google of paying billions of dollars each year in exclusionary agreements with Apple, Samsung and others so that they will make Google's search engine the default on their devices.

In a pre-trial hearing, Steven Sunshine, speaking for Apple, said that the government was asking for depositions of "Apple's most senior executives."

Sunshine also indicated that it was not clear to him what the Justice Department wanted from Apple.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The US Justice Department sued Google in October 2020, accusing the $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 75,62,921 crore) company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals. A trial date was set for Sept. 12, 2023.

The US Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and groups of state attorneys general launched a variety of investigations into the Big Tech platforms about two years ago, some of which have resulted in lawsuits.
© Thomson Reuters 2021

Do Samsung's Galaxy S22 and Tab S8 series have any Android competition? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.