💬 Quoted… “[We] have to be sensitive about antitrust considerations.”

Google is currently in the midst of a historic antitrust trial. But the company, which controls ~90% of the online search market, has reportedly been preparing for this moment for about two decades. Government lawyers allege that as far back as 2003, Google employees were instructed by execs to use specific phrases to ensure they don’t come across like monopolists. Some examples:

• Avoid discussions of “scale” and “network effects”
• We do not “leverage” anything
• We don’t “lock up” or “lock in” our users/partners
• We don’t “bundle” or “tie” products together
• Avoid metaphors involving wars or sports, winning or losing

📉 Stat of the Day: The official poverty rate for Black Americans declined to 17.1% in 2022, the lowest on record dating back to 1959, according to Census data released Tuesday. For reference: Asian Americans’ poverty rate was 8.6%, white Americans’ rate was 10.5%, Hispanic Americans’ rate was 16.9%, American Indians/Alaskan Natives’ rate was 25.0%, and the rate for people of two or more races was 12.2%.

🤔 Did You Know?... The king cobra snake isn’t technically a cobra – the species’ name comes from its propensity to eat other snakes, cobras included.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change → (WSJ)