Much of Google’s antitrust trial is being kept private

Since the middle of September Google has been in the courtroom for its antitrust trial with the Justice Department, and you likely haven’t heard about a huge portion of it because much of it is being kept private. That’s not to say there hasn’t been some information coming to light and being made available for public viewing.

There are certainly some things that have been reported on. And it’s this reporting that has led to the outing of important details. Such as Google’s request for employees to avoid using certain words that could make them sound like monopolists. The trial has also ushered in more information on Google’s longtime exclusive deals with companies like Apple. Wherein Google would be paying Apple a sizeable sum of billions annually to keep Google as the search engine default on its Apple products.

Multiple competitors have testified that Google makes it unnecessarily difficult for users to change to a different search engine. All of this would likely never have been brought up to the public if it weren’t for this trial. And users would be none the wiser when it comes to Google’s alleged monopolistic business practices. And yet, it still feels like there’s a bunch of information that users aren’t privy to. There’s a good reason for that. Much of the US vs Google trial is being kept private. Behind closed doors and away from the view of anyone remotely interested in seeing what Google’s up to.

The Google trial is being kept private because Judge Amit Mehta is catering to involved companies

A big reason for the secrecy can probably be placed on the shoulders of Judge Amit Mehta. Throughout the trial Google and other involved companies such as Apple and Microsoft have made requests to redact specific information. Mehta has honored some of these requests. Which means there’s a good chance there are some important details about Google’s operations that could be harmful to consumers will never see the light of day.

In addition to the redacted information, some of the trial has been closed off from the public and from reporters. A sort of unprecedented decision given the sheer scope of a trial like this one. Some information that has been made public has only been done so recently. With it being closed off from public access for numerous weeks. As Slate reports, certain publications (of a handful that are able to cover the trial in person) like The New York Times have been advocating for public access to trial testimony. Not just access though, but quicker access. Slate notes that as of this week, the Times is still trying to get the court to provide the public with quicker access.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. And if Mehta does finally decide to cater more to the public in this regard, who’s to say it will matter. Google is now in its half of the trial where it gets to go on the defense. The trial is also only supposed to take until November 10 which is just a few weeks away. So depending on when (or if) quicker public access becomes a thing, it could end up being after most of the trial is already over. And after much of the most important testimony has already been kept behind closed doors.