Never would I have thought that DOJ’s case against Google Search would strengthen after close of DOJ’s case in chief.

What’s happening?

Reading about the Google Play antitrust case valiantly pursued by @TimSweeneyEpic, I think I’ve put my finger on it. First, let me state the obvious. In this trial, Google has blundered its defense, selecting overly evasive and hagiographic witnesses. And DOJ and the states have done surprisingly well in their cross of those witnesses. Results may vary.

How exactly is the Google Search antitrust trial "secret"? Let me count the ways.

For the first several weeks, the trial was mostly closed to the public, literally conducted behind locked doors. After media outcry, that changed and the trial is now mostly open. But.. There's still alot of unusual things happening that prevent the press from reporting on the case and the public from understanding.

#1 We don't have a witness list or schedule. For example, DOJ won't tell journalists who is expected to testify tomorrow.

Google is controlling the trial w/ its secrecy designations, controlling our searches w/ its greed, and controlling Wired w/ its scare tactics. I wrote an op-ed re Google mucking around w/ organic search to make it more shopping-oriented to gin up ad $. I stand by that. My 🧵 Just Friday, a witness testified about a Google "experiment" where the company deliberately made its search results worse (WORSE!) to see if that would impact its traffic.  The experiment ran for weeks or months without any negative impact for Google, he said.