Microsoft has asked the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to take action against Google. They believe Google is stopping other companies from succeeding in the online search world. On October 2nd, Microsoft’s leader, Satya Nadella, spoke in Washington. He said people really don’t have many options when it comes to changing their default search engine.
Google Accused of Unfair Business Tactics
38 states and the DoJ say that Google has not been playing fair in business. They think Google pays other companies a lot of money, about $10 billion each year, to make sure Google is the main search engine people use. Even though Google says they didn’t do anything wrong, Nadella points out that Google controls over 91% of the search market. That makes it really hard for other companies to get noticed.
Google has said they let users pick different search engines on their phones and computers. But Nadella disagrees. He’s upset because Microsoft’s own search engine, Bing, is not used as much. In fact, only about 3% of people worldwide use Bing.
Microsoft tried to work with Apple to make Bing the main search engine on Apple devices. But even though Microsoft was ready to pay a lot and even lose money, Apple decided to work with Google instead.
The Fight Between Microsoft and Google
Back in 2021, Microsoft and Google decided they wouldn’t fight against each other in business. But that peace only lasted for five years. Now, they’re competing again. Microsoft thinks everyone should have a fair chance in the search engine world. But Google thinks Microsoft is just scared of them.
Earlier in the year, Google said Microsoft wasn’t being fair with cloud computing. This is a way of storing and accessing data over the internet. Google didn’t like that Microsoft was making deals with some companies in Europe.
Because of this fight, government groups that make sure businesses play fair are watching Microsoft and Google closely. Judge Amit Mehta will make a big decision about this fight next year.
Even if Google gets in trouble in court, Microsoft still has a long way to go. They’ve spent a lot of money on a chatbot called ChatGPT, but it’s not likely to make Bing more popular than Google any time soon.
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