Apple reportedly engaged in discussions with DuckDuckGo about the possibility of replacing Google, which is owned by Alphabet, as the default search engine for the private browsing mode on Apple’s Safari web browser. People familiar with these discussions have shared these insights.
The details of these talks are expected to become public later this week. This development comes after a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google, where the judge, Amit Mehta, initially kept the testimony of DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, and Apple’s executive, John Giannandrea, sealed. However, Judge Mehta ruled on Wednesday that this testimony is crucial to the case and should be unsealed. Additionally, some testimony regarding similar discussions between Microsoft and Apple had not been made public previously.
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Judge Amit Mehta has ordered the unsealing of testimony related to potential partnership deals involving Microsoft and Apple, as well as DuckDuckGo and Apple. He emphasized the importance of this testimony in the ongoing case.
This development pertains to discussions about Apple’s Safari browser’s private browsing mode, which does not track users’ visited websites or maintain a browsing history.
Both Apple and Google had initially requested that the testimony remains confidential. However, Judge Mehta reviewed the transcripts thoroughly and decided to release the executives’ comments, excluding any trade secrets such as specific project names at Apple and precise financial figures discussed.
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DuckDuckGo chose not to comment on the judge’s ruling, and Apple has not provided an immediate response to this development.
The Justice Department has alleged that Google paid substantial sums, amounting to billions of dollars, to Apple and other entities to secure its position as the default search engine on web browsers and smartphones. These arrangements, according to federal and state antitrust enforcers, effectively prevented other search engines like Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo from gaining users and emerging as competitors to Google.
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Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, testified on Monday regarding his company’s efforts to convince Apple to adopt Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine for Apple’s Safari browser, instead of Google. Nadella revealed that Microsoft was willing to incur significant financial losses if Apple were to make this switch.
