Google Trial Spotlights Internal Dispute Over Algorithm vs Data
- US monopoly claims focus on efforts to deprive rivals of data
- Executives argue over which brings more to Google’s business
Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, arrives to federal court in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
Photographer: Ting Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
What is more important to a successful online search business: the computing algorithm that decides what results to display or the data that tracks the results of user clicks?
Even within Alphabet Inc.’s Google, the world’s largest search engine, that question has been hotly debated for years. And now it’s a key feature in a landmark antitrust trial, where the US Justice Department claims Google spends billions of dollars to stifle competition and preserve its monopoly over online search.