Google’s Deals Lock Up 50% of US Searches, DOJ Expert Says

Google’s exclusive deals to be the default search engine on mobile devices and PC browsers block rivals from as much as half of all queries conducted in the US, the Justice Department’s economic expert said at the company’s antitrust trial Monday.

“The power of the defaults is very significant,” said Michael Whinston, an economist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in his second day of testimony. Whinston, who was hired by the Justice Department to conduct an empirical analysis for the case, previously testified on Oct. 6. “When you see Google paying billions and billions and billions, there ...