The U.S. Justice Department wants some of Apple’s top executives to testify under oath to determine whether Google’s search operations violate antitrust laws, a lawyer representing Apple said on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google in October 2020, accusing it of using its market power to illegally suppress competitors, with a court date set for September 12, 2023.
In the indictment, the U.S. Justice Department alleges that Google pays billions of dollars a year to enter into exclusivity agreements with Apple, Samsung and other companies in order to make the Google search engine the default search engine on various devices.
During the pretrial hearing, Apple spokesman Steven Sunshine said the Justice Department asked “Apple’s most senior executives” to testify. Sanson said he had no idea what information the Justice Department wanted from Apple.
About two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of state attorneys general launched various investigations into big tech platforms, some of which have already sparked lawsuits.