What is Google hiding in its unprecedentedly secret antitrust trial?

 To the Big Tech corporations testifying in the federal government's antitrust suit against Google, the first big monopoly trial in a quarter-century.

One document the company unsuccessfully tried to keep behind closed doors - Judge Amit Mehta made it public - involved a Google vice president bragging about how "Addictive" the search giant's services are, comparing them to tobacco and illicit drugs.

The executive, Michael Roszak, said that means Google is free to "Mostly ignore the demand side" - i.e., consumers - in favor of "The supply side of advertisers, ad formats, and sales." In short, Google's products are, by design, so addictive that it can exploit its users for economic gain without worrying about what the users themselves actually want or need.

Google now says Roszak's views don't reflect the company's, but it'd pretty much have to say that, wouldn't it? This could prove damning in another lawsuit the feds have filed against Google that could go to trial next year - on its online-advertising monopoly.

One possibility is that a more open approach would reveal just how closely Big Tech firms like Google have been working with the federal government to shape public opinion and even influence elections.

Of course, perhaps Google is just embarrassed about things it does to make its products addictive, as Roszak bragged; that's the sort of thing that got tobacco companies in trouble, after all.

Over the past few years, huge tech companies like Google have assumed enormous economic and political power, often working hand-in-glove with unelected bureaucrats to suppress political opposition.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/03/what-is-google-hiding-in-its-unprecedentedly-secret-antitrust-trial/