In the ongoing antitrust trial against Google, Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of search engine DuckDuckGo, testified about the substantial barriers his company faces in competing with the internet giant. Weinberg attributed these challenges to Google’s exclusive deals with phone companies and equipment manufacturers to be the default search option on devices.
The difficulty of switching search engines has been hotly contested in US government s antitrust suit, which alleges that Google illegally maintained its monopoly over online search via contracts with web browsers and smartphone makers, including Apple.
Apple official testifies in a US federal court that the iOS 17 iPhone software update allows users to select search engine other than Google s in private mode.