0:03

President Biden spoke at the end of

0:05

a week when police shut down many

0:07

campus demonstrations. There's the right to protest,

0:10

but not the right to cause chaos.

0:12

He preached calm and even-handedness in

0:14

regard to issues that are emotional and polarizing.

0:16

Did it help? I'm Steve Inskeap

0:18

with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from

0:20

NPR News. Google

0:24

once adopted the motto, don't be evil.

0:26

Now the government calls it an illegal

0:28

monopoly. What are closing arguments in an

0:30

antitrust trial? And there are

0:33

protests in the former Soviet Republic of

0:35

Georgia over a proposed foreign agent's law.

0:37

If it passes, the EU and NATO

0:39

might not let Georgia in. Is Russia behind

0:41

it? We either have to

0:43

ensure our future by becoming member of

0:45

NATO and European Union, or we will

0:48

not exist in 10 to

0:50

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0:52

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Health slash What's

2:21

Your Why. After

2:24

more than a week of silence, President

2:26

Biden addressed the pro-Palestinian protests on college

2:29

campuses yesterday. And he tried for a

2:31

balanced approach to a divisive issue. I

2:33

understand people have strong feelings and deep

2:36

convictions. In America,

2:38

we respect the right and

2:40

protect the right for them to express that. But

2:43

it doesn't mean anything goes. It

2:46

needs to be done without violence, without

2:48

destruction. Now when he said strong

2:50

feelings the president meant about Israel's

2:52

war against Hamas, many protesters have

2:54

blamed Biden for supporting Israel. And

2:56

some students want their colleges to

2:59

divest from companies that relate in

3:01

some way to Israel. On

3:03

the same day the president spoke, police broke

3:05

up a protest camp at UCLA and cleared

3:07

protesters from a library at Portland State. NPR

3:10

senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is with

3:12

us now to tell us more about all

3:14

this. Good morning. Good morning. How would you

3:16

sum up the president's message? The

3:18

remarks were only about three minutes long. And

3:20

the central point was that there has to

3:23

be balance between free speech and rule

3:25

of law. There's a right to

3:27

protest, he said, but not to cause

3:29

chaos. And he also spoke to the

3:32

concerns of Jewish students and others who've

3:34

been verbally attacked or otherwise felt unsafe

3:36

on their campuses. He said anti-Semitism is

3:38

wrong, but so is Islamophobia. Both have

3:41

been on the rise in the U.S.

3:43

since the October 7th Hamas attacks on

3:45

Israel and the war in Gaza that

3:48

has dragged on since then. Also a

3:50

lot of ideas coexisting here, and this

3:52

is in a political environment quite

3:54

obviously dominated by a lot of loud

3:56

voices and a lot of strong views.

3:59

Can that work? for the president

4:01

and his fellow Democrats. I

4:03

talked to Mallory McMorro about this.

4:05

She's a Michigan state senator, a

4:07

Democrat, who understands the dynamics very

4:10

well in her swing state. There

4:12

is space for us to

4:14

reject the binary that I think

4:16

Republicans are trying to paint us

4:18

into and take back the idea

4:20

that Joe Biden and Democrats

4:22

are the ones protecting your right

4:25

to free speech and your right to

4:27

be safe on a college campus. That

4:29

does not fit on a bumper sticker or

4:31

a hat, but it does reflect where Democrats find

4:33

themselves. Can I fact check something with you?

4:35

Was this really the first time Biden has

4:37

spoken about this since the protests started, kind

4:40

of really dominating news coverage? He

4:42

very briefly answered a question about

4:44

the protests almost two weeks ago,

4:47

and he said he condemned anti-Semitic

4:49

protests, but also people who don't

4:51

understand what's going on with the

4:53

Palestinians. And that was

4:55

fodder for Senate Minority Leader, Mitch

4:57

McConnell, earlier this week. Hard

5:00

not to see. It's a

5:02

meanly mouthed squivocation for

5:04

what it is. The

5:06

president prioritizing feelings of his

5:08

political supporters over

5:11

moral clarity. McConnell was

5:13

essentially accusing Biden of pulling punches

5:15

because the protesters are, by and

5:17

large, left-leaning. And Biden very

5:20

clearly does have a lot of work to

5:22

do to win over young progressive voters who

5:24

are disappointed with his approach to the war.

5:27

But that did not appear to be the

5:29

goal of his remarks yesterday. At the end,

5:31

he was asked whether the protests have forced

5:33

him to reconsider his Mideast policy, and his

5:36

answer was a hard no. So

5:38

briefly, though, Democrats in several primaries, including

5:41

swing states, a lot of them in

5:43

numbers, voted uncommitted, apparently, to protest that

5:45

policy. So what might this all mean

5:47

for the presidential campaign going forward? Republicans

5:50

have the easier task here, and they

5:52

have stayed on message. They can just

5:54

point to the chaos, say all the

5:56

protesters are anti-Semitic and call Biden weak.

5:59

And images of... chaos are not great

6:01

for a reelection bid. Democrats

6:03

are divided over the war in

6:05

Gaza, but Biden's campaign believes that

6:08

most voters won't be making their

6:10

choice based on that one issue

6:12

alone. The campaign is continuing to

6:14

do all it can to amplify

6:16

former President Donald Trump's incendiary statements

6:19

and hope that these protests quiet down when

6:21

college students go home for the summer. That

6:25

is NPR's Tamara

6:27

Keith-Pam, thank you.

6:30

You're welcome. Google

6:35

has been its own verb for years now.

6:37

The federal government says that's illegal. Well not

6:40

the verb itself, but the search

6:42

engine. The government's antitrust lawsuit accuses

6:44

Google of creating an illegal monopoly.

6:47

You could easily Google the company's response, or for

6:50

that matter find it on big. The

6:52

company says they simply have the best search engine.

6:54

Closing arguments wrap up today and NPR tech correspondent

6:56

Dera Kerr has been following the trail and she's

6:58

here to tell us more about it. Good morning.

7:01

Hello Michelle. Could you just start by

7:03

reminding us of what this antitrust lawsuit

7:05

is all about? Yeah it's

7:07

hard to downplay just how

7:09

popular Google search is right?

7:12

The company controls about 90% of

7:15

the global search engine market. So

7:17

there's no dispute that Google is

7:19

a monopoly. That in itself is

7:21

not illegal, but what is illegal

7:23

is when companies engage in certain

7:25

practices that ensure no rivals enter

7:27

the market. And the Justice Department

7:29

says that is exactly what Google

7:31

did. What specifically does the government

7:33

say Google did to hold on to this

7:35

monopoly? Their case hinges

7:38

on these exclusive agreements

7:40

that Google made with device makers

7:42

like Apple and Samsung and web

7:44

browser companies like Mozilla which runs

7:46

Firefox. Google pays these companies

7:49

billions of dollars a year to be

7:51

the default search engine on their devices.

7:54

And a lot of people don't even realize

7:56

Google is the default. The government says these

7:58

deals make it impossible for competitive. users to

8:00

get a leg up. And what that

8:02

means for consumers like you and me

8:04

is that we're left with few choices,

8:06

and Google isn't forced to innovate and

8:08

make a better product because it's already

8:11

at the top. And what does Google

8:13

say? Throughout the

8:15

course of the trial, which lasted 10

8:17

weeks, Google said its search engine is

8:19

superior to all others and that's why

8:21

it dominates the industry. It also

8:23

said that if people want to switch to another

8:25

search engine, they can. They just go into their

8:27

device settings and with a few clicks and swipes,

8:30

they can change the default to DuckDuckGo

8:32

or Bing or Yahoo. And

8:34

tell us about the closing arguments. What have those

8:36

been like? What's been really

8:38

interesting is that it's not like

8:40

your courtroom TV drama with lawyers

8:43

making long speeches. Instead, the judge

8:45

is going back and forth between

8:47

the lawyers asking really pointed questions.

8:49

He's asking about the technology and

8:51

legal explanations on how Google is

8:53

or is not violating the law.

8:56

The judge also seemed to be trying to

8:58

poke holes in both sides' arguments. So

9:01

when Google set a site like Amazon is

9:03

its competitor when people search for products to

9:05

buy, the judge made it clear he didn't

9:07

think Google and Amazon were comparable. And

9:10

when the government said Google hasn't kept

9:12

up with innovating its search engine, the

9:14

judge disagreed. So the judge

9:16

has really given no indication on which

9:19

way he'll side. Has the judge

9:21

given any indication or do we have any

9:23

sense of when the judge might issue his decision?

9:26

Yeah, that is expected in a few months.

9:28

And if he finds that Google acted illegally,

9:31

there will be a separate hearing on how

9:33

he'd sanction the company. That could

9:35

be anything from fines to restructuring Google,

9:37

such as breaking up the company. So

9:40

this decision has the real potential to

9:42

change how we experience the internet. That

9:45

is NPR's Derek Hardara. Thank you. Thanks so

9:47

much. And here's where I want to let

9:49

you know Google is a corporate sponsor of

9:51

NPR, although we cover them like any other

9:53

company. For

10:04

the past several weeks, protests have engulfed

10:06

the nation of Georgia. That's a former

10:08

Soviet republic that borders the Black Sea and

10:10

sits between Russia and Turkey. The

10:13

protesters are rejecting a so-called foreign

10:15

agents law that the country's parliament

10:17

is considering. This bill may undermine

10:19

Georgia's prospects to join Western clubs,

10:22

like the European Union or NATO. And

10:24

that has prompted speculation that Russia is

10:26

pushing it. John P. R.

10:28

Charles-Mains is with us from Moscow, but he's just

10:31

back from Georgia. Good morning, Charles. Good

10:33

morning. So these protests have been going

10:35

on for several weeks. Would you just tell us

10:37

what you've been seeing? Well,

10:39

first of all, last night, protesters blocked major

10:41

roads again in the capital of Belisi. They

10:44

were gathering in Central Square, and again, there

10:46

were skirmishes with police. But

10:48

this followed protests that turned violent earlier this

10:50

week when huge crowds gathered outside the gates

10:53

of the parliament. I was there, and

10:55

the government response on that night was very aggressive.

11:01

So here you can hear riot troops

11:03

firing rubber bullets. There were stun grenades,

11:05

water cannons, and tear gas to disperse

11:07

the crowds. Some protesters were beaten. Georgia's

11:10

Interior Ministry says 65 people

11:12

were detained. Protesters say more than a

11:15

dozen demonstrators were injured. And

11:17

the government says so were several riot troops.

11:19

And yet it appears neither side is backing

11:21

down. Lawmakers in parliament pushed this draft law

11:23

through a second round of voting on Wednesday.

11:26

A final third vote is expected later this

11:28

month. And opponents of the law vow they'll

11:30

keep fighting against it. Would you tell us

11:32

more about the law? Like, what does it

11:34

propose to do? And why are we seeing

11:37

such firm opposition to it? Yeah,

11:39

you know, this law is supported by the

11:42

ruling Georgia Dream Party, and it would make

11:44

NGOs and media organizations that receive more than

11:46

20% of their funding from

11:48

abroad to declare themselves essentially

11:50

as foreign agents. Supporters make the

11:52

argument, you know, what do you

11:55

have to hide? This is about

11:57

transparency. It's about sovereignty. Other countries

11:59

have some version of this, including, by

12:01

the way, the US. Yet opponents

12:03

say this bill more resembles a Russian foreign

12:05

agent's law that the Kremlin is used to

12:07

crush civil society here in Moscow in particular.

12:10

They also say it's intended to derail

12:12

Georgia's ambitions to join Western clubs, which

12:14

would push Georgia back into Russia's orbit.

12:17

Certainly that's the view of Giorgi Grisvili,

12:19

a 29-year-old IT specialist I met who's

12:21

been out protesting the law for weeks.

12:23

We are in these crossroads right now.

12:26

We either have to ensure

12:28

our future by becoming member of

12:30

NATO and European Union, or we will not

12:33

exist in 10 to 15 years. So

12:35

clearly he's not alone in thinking these protests

12:38

are about much more than the law itself.

12:40

They're about whether Georgia's future lies with Russia

12:42

or the West. What about the

12:44

West? What has been the response from

12:46

Western entities, Europe, the US? Yeah,

12:50

European officials and the US, Georgia's

12:52

allies, have all urged Georgia's government

12:54

to reconsider this law. They've warned

12:56

it will damage Georgia's long-term prospects

12:58

to join the EU and NATO.

13:01

The problem is the government backed off this

13:03

law after mass protests broke out against its

13:06

passage last year. So this is try number

13:08

two, and they're determined not to bow to

13:10

public pressure a second time. And

13:12

so for example, I was at another large rally

13:14

this week in support of this law, one where

13:17

the government clearly busting people from across Georgia to

13:19

attend, but further raising the

13:21

stakes here are internal politics. Pulling back now

13:23

would make the government look weak ahead of

13:25

fall elections. And that's where the

13:28

ruling party claims Western backed NGOs and independent

13:30

media seek to topple them from power. That

13:33

is NPR's Charles Mates. Charles, thank you. Thank

13:35

you, Michelle. And

13:41

that's up first for Friday, May 3.

13:43

I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Steven Skieb.

13:45

Today's Up First was edited by Roberta

13:48

Rampton, Gabriel Spitzer, Nick Spicer, Alana Pearl,

13:50

and Ben Adler. It was produced by

13:52

Ziad Bocz, Ben Abrams, and Lily Keros.

13:55

We get engineering support from Carly Strange,

13:57

and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

14:00

Our executive producer is Erica

14:02

Aguilar. And don't forget, Up

14:04

First drops on Saturdays too. Join Ayesha Ross,

14:06

Don't Stop Simon tomorrow, right here in the

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