Google fought hard to be the default search engine on smartphones and browsers so it “can manipulate your choices,” a government human behavior expert testified in the antitrust trial Thursday.
Antonio Rangel, a behavioral economist and professor at the California Institute of Technology, took the second day and said Google has relied heavily on default settings to keep users connected to its search engine and other lucrative services.
“If I can move your eyes, if I can manipulate your fixations, I can manipulate your choices a little bit,” Rangel said, according to Bloomberg.
Rangel emphasized the importance of default status in winning over customers, stating that users generally stick with whatever browser is set as the default choice on their computers and smartphones.