The news: A lawsuit filed earlier this week in California claims Google paid Apple billions of dollars to use Google’s search engines on Macs and iPhones, per Gizmodo.
More on this: According to the class-action suit, the Big Tech firms worked together to keep Apple from developing its own search engine software.
- “Meetings were undertaken to promote the shared vision that Apple and Google would act in effect as one company that was merged without merging,” the suit states.
- The lawsuit claims that the two companies worked together to suppress smaller search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, and that the two companies shared tens of billions in profits from search ads.
Why it’s worth watching: Apple and Google have already come under fire in the UK for their smartphone “duopoly” with iOS and Android, respectively. However, there are currently no viable competitors to the two operating systems.
The big takeaway: Big Tech has come under intense scrutiny in the past year, facing fines and lawsuits in the US and overseas. Expect increased government oversight and fees on companies that have continued to grow unimpeded for years. However, big changes aren’t likely until they’re ordered to start divesting their interests.