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Alphabet's Google paid $26.3 billion to other companies in 2021 to ensure its search engine was the default on web browsers and mobile phones, a top company executive testified during the Justice Department's antitrust trial, Bloomberg News reported.
A transcript from the trails showed DuckDuckGo had struck a deal with Apple in 2014 to be shown as an option on Apple devices, but the deal eventually did not materialise in 2019.
Google denied that it had illegally used agreements to exclude its search competitors and said it had simply provided a superior product, adding that people can easily switch which search engine they use.