Apple had been in discussions with DuckDuckGo, as an alternative to Alphabet’s Google as the default search engine for the private mode on Apple’s Safari browser. However, the idea was ultimately rejected. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that prioritizes user privacy. Unlike other search engines, DuckDuckGo does not track websites that a user visits or keep a history of what websites a person has accessed.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the details of these talks, along with Apple’s discussions about buying Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine in 2018 and 2020, were revealed late Wednesday in transcripts unsealed by Judge Amit Mehta overseeing the US government’s antitrust trial against Google. The judge initially allowed Weinberg and Giannandrea to testify about the negotiations in closed court but later ruled that the testimony “goes to the heart of the case” and should be released.
The private browsing mode doesn’t track websites that a user visits or keep a history of what websites a person has accessed. Apple and Google requested that the testimony remain private. However, Judge Mehta decided to release the executives’ comments with the exception of trade secrets, such as the project names within Apple, and the exact financial figures under discussion.
The anti-trust case against Google alleges that the Search Giant paid billions of dollars to Apple and others to be the default search engine on web browsers and smartphones. These deals have kept other search engines, like Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo, from building up users and becoming rivals to Google, according to federal and state antitrust enforcers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified Monday about his company’s negotiations to persuade Apple to make Microsoft’s Bing the default search engine on Apple’s Safari browser rather than Google. Nadella said Microsoft was willing to lose billions of dollars if Apple made the switch.