David Pierce
50 percent of Google searches allegedly come through a paid-for default deal.
Opening arguments are underway! Some folks are in the courtroom, where there are no electronics allowed, because this is a trial about the internet and technology, so, sure. The rest of us are listening through an AT&T conferencing line, which feels very fitting for a modern antitrust trial.
Two interesting things already: Judge Amit Mehta asked when Google became a monopoly, and government attorney Kenneth Dintzer said that Google has been illegally maintaining its monopoly since 2010. (Meaning it has been a monopoly even longer.) And Dintzer said in response to another question that he believes fully half of Google searches come through a paid-for spot in a search bar.
