Google exploited exclusive search engine deals to maintain its advantage over rivals, Department of Justice argues

Google has exploited its dominance of the internet search market to lock out competitors and smother innovation, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday at the opening of the biggest US antitrust trial in a quarter century.

“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” said Kenneth Dintzer, the Justice Department’s lead litigator.

Over the next 10 weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will try to prove Google rigged the market in its favour by locking in its search engine as the default choice in a plethora of places and devices.