WASHINGTON (AP) – The battle against Google’s dominance as an internet search engine has reached a critical point in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit. The Justice Department lawyers argue that Google’s position as a monopoly is sustained by over $20 billion spent annually, locking out competition. On the other hand, Google defends its ubiquity by highlighting its excellence in delivering search results to customers.

During the closing arguments on Friday, Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlein emphasized that penalizing a company for succeeding on its merits would be unprecedented. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyer Ken Dintzer urged the judge to intervene and halt Google’s monopolistic practices, drawing parallels to past antitrust battles involving other tech giants like Microsoft.

The 10-week lawsuit concluded with the U.S. government, a coalition of states, and Google making their final presentations to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. The case centered around Google’s contractual agreements with companies like Apple to secure its status as the default search engine on various devices, a key factor contributing to its dominance.

Evidence revealed during the trial shows that Google’s significant investment in these contracts reflects its strategic importance in maintaining a stronghold as the default search engine. While the Justice Department argues that such practices hinder competition, Google contends that consumers have the freedom to opt for alternative search engines if they prefer.

Google challenges the government’s narrow definition of the search engine market, pointing out that it faces intense competition in specific search categories. For instance, the company argues that consumers utilize platforms like Amazon, Airbnb, and Yelp for targeted searches, in addition to competing against social media companies like Facebook and TikTok.

As the trial progressed, Judge Mehta scrutinized the market dynamics and questioned whether the competition presented by other companies truly aligns with Google’s position in search. The government raised concerns about Google’s document retention practices, accusing the company of systematically destroying evidence to conceal anticompetitive intent.

Despite Google’s argument that its market strength is subject to change as the internet evolves, the Justice Department insists that Google’s monopoly results in artificially higher advertising prices and ultimately impacts consumers. The government highlighted internal documents suggesting that Google manipulated its ad algorithms to increase revenue at the expense of providing the best search results to users.

As the verdict remains pending, speculations arise about the potential impact on the search-engine market and what remedies might be implemented if Google is found to have violated antitrust laws. The outcome of this legal battle could have far-reaching implications for the tech industry and the regulation of dominant players like Google.