Google argues quality kept its search on top, defends billions paid

Google argued on Tuesday the U.S. was wrong to say the search and advertising giant broke the law to hold onto its massive market share, noting its search engine was wildly popular because of its quality and that dissatisfied users could switch with “a few easy clicks.”

The Justice Department has accused Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) of paying $10 billion annually to device makers like Apple (AAPL.O), wireless companies like AT&T (T.N), and browser makers like Mozilla to keep its search engine’s market share at around 90%.

Google’s search engine is…