Google Makes Its Case
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A trial a decade in the making has started, as the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google and its unrivaled position as the top search engine begins. Is this the beginning of the government “taking on Big Tech” and the end of Google as we know it?
Guest: Leah Nylen, covering antitrust for Bloomberg.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What would it take for you to line up at a courthouse at 4.30 in the morning? |
| 0:14.2 | According to Leah Nyland, who covers antitrust for Bloomberg News, that's what was happening |
| 0:19.2 | in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. |
| 0:21.7 | I didn't get here until 7.30 and I was the first reporter here because I'm an nerd. |
| 0:28.1 | There were people who were really wanted to get in, and they had the regular courtroom |
| 0:33.5 | and two overflows actually on the very first day. |
| 0:37.1 | That's the very first day of United States versus Google, aka the biggest antitrust trial |
| 0:44.8 | in more than 20 years. |
| 0:47.0 | How long have you, Leah, been waiting for this trial? |
| 0:51.5 | Oh, probably, I mean, 12 years? |
| 0:58.3 | Really? |
| 0:59.1 | Well, I mean, so when I first started on the beat, there was an investigation into Google |
| 1:04.3 | going on at the time by a different agency, the Federal Trade Commission. |
| 1:09.1 | They ultimately ended up not bringing a case that was like one of my very first years |
| 1:14.5 | on the beat. |
| 1:15.5 | But a lot of the allegations in this case are actually things that they have T.C. investigated |
| 1:20.9 | way back in like 2010, 2011, 2012. |
| 1:25.2 | I mean, some of the stuff we've seen so far goes back as far as 2003. |
| 1:29.6 | So this is like a decade in the making at least. |
| 1:35.1 | And how long do you think the US government has been waiting to take on Google? |
| 1:41.0 | Well, as I said, you know, they did do this big investigation, you know, 13 years ago. |
| 1:48.8 | This particular investigation started in 2019, and now here we are finally getting to |
... |
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