Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOG-owned Google’s senior executive, Prabhakar Raghavan, has expressed concerns over user loss to Amazon Inc. AMZN and ByteDance-owned TikTok, saying that it keeps him awake at night, during his testimony in the ongoing Justice Department antitrust case.
What Happened: During his testimony on Thursday, Raghavan highlighted the company’s apprehensions regarding user migration to Amazon and TikTok, specifically highlighting the challenge of retaining younger users, who are increasingly drawn to these platforms for their diverse offerings, reported Bloomberg.
“I feel a keen sense not to become the next roadkill,” said Raghavan, adding, “Grandpa Google knows the answer and will help you with homework. But when it comes to doing interesting things, they like to start elsewhere.”
Raghavan also underlined the significant shift in user behavior, stating, “The fastest growing section of queries is young people using their camera to point to things.”
He noted that the search giant was at risk of losing market share to modern-day applications like Meta Platforms Inc.’s META Instagram and TikTok because young people engage with them entirely differently than traditional online search behavior.
Last week, Pandu Nayak, a Google vice president overseeing the search, stated in his testimony that Google has directed its attention toward TikTok to understand better how the younger demographic seeks information, the report noted.
Why It’s Important: For the unversed, the Justice Department rested its case last week, arguing that Google breaks the law by having too much control over online search.
The department accused Google of paying over $10 billion yearly to tech companies, phone makers, and internet providers to ensure they make Google the “default” choice on phones and web browsers.
In response, Google argued that they have lots of competition not just from other search engines but also from websites that young people use for fun, shopping, and cooking.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will reportedly testify in the landmark antitrust trial on Monday.
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash.
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