Google's Dominance Hinders Competition, Says DuckDuckGo CEO

DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg testified in an antitrust trial that Google's contracts with phone companies and equipment manufacturers make it difficult for his search engine to compete. The U.S. Department of Justice argues that Google pays companies to lock in its search engine as the default choice on devices, stifling competition. Weinberg stated that switching from Google requires too many steps, while Google argues that users can easily switch search engines. DuckDuckGo differentiates itself by focusing on privacy and contextual advertising. Eric Lehman, a former Google software engineer, suggested that machine learning could challenge Google's dominance in the industry.