Google agreed on Monday to pay a $35.8 million high quality in Australia after the patron watchdog found it had hurt competition by paying the country’s two largest telcos to pre-install its search application on Android phones, excluding rival search engines like google and yahoo.
The high quality extends a bumpy period for the Alphabet-owned web giant in Australia, where last week a court mostly ruled against it in a lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games accusing Google and Apple of stopping rival application stores of their operating systems.
Google’s YouTube was also last month added to an Australian ban on social media platforms admitting users aged under 16, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the video-sharing site.
On anti-competitive tie-ups with Australian telcos, the country’s consumer watchdog on Monday said Google struck deals with Telstra and Optus, under which the tech giant shared with them promoting revenue generated from Google Search on Android devices between late 2019 and early 2021.
Google admitted the arrangement had a considerable impact on competition from rival search engines like google and yahoo, and has stopped signing similar deals while also agreeing to the high quality, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) added.
“Today’s end result … created the potential for thousands and thousands of Australians to have greater search alternative in the longer term, and for competing search providers to achieve meaningful exposure to Australian consumers,” ACCC Chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb said.
Google and the ACCC have jointly submitted to the Federal Court that Google should pay the $35 million high quality.
The court must still resolve if the penalty is acceptable, the ACCC said, however the cooperation between the regulator and Google has helped avoid lengthy litigation.
A Google spokesperson said the corporate was pleased to resolve the ACCC’s concerns which involved “provisions that haven’t been in our business agreements for a while.”
“We’re committed to providing Android device makers more flexibility to pre-load browsers and search apps, while preserving the offerings and features that help them innovate, compete with Apple, and keep costs low,” the spokesperson added.
Google agreed on Monday to pay a $35.8 million high quality in Australia after the patron watchdog found it had hurt competition by paying the country’s two largest telcos to pre-install its search application on Android phones, excluding rival search engines like google and yahoo.
The high quality extends a bumpy period for the Alphabet-owned web giant in Australia, where last week a court mostly ruled against it in a lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games accusing Google and Apple of stopping rival application stores of their operating systems.
Google’s YouTube was also last month added to an Australian ban on social media platforms admitting users aged under 16, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the video-sharing site.
On anti-competitive tie-ups with Australian telcos, the country’s consumer watchdog on Monday said Google struck deals with Telstra and Optus, under which the tech giant shared with them promoting revenue generated from Google Search on Android devices between late 2019 and early 2021.
Google admitted the arrangement had a considerable impact on competition from rival search engines like google and yahoo, and has stopped signing similar deals while also agreeing to the high quality, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) added.
“Today’s end result … created the potential for thousands and thousands of Australians to have greater search alternative in the longer term, and for competing search providers to achieve meaningful exposure to Australian consumers,” ACCC Chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb said.
Google and the ACCC have jointly submitted to the Federal Court that Google should pay the $35 million high quality.
The court must still resolve if the penalty is acceptable, the ACCC said, however the cooperation between the regulator and Google has helped avoid lengthy litigation.
A Google spokesperson said the corporate was pleased to resolve the ACCC’s concerns which involved “provisions that haven’t been in our business agreements for a while.”
“We’re committed to providing Android device makers more flexibility to pre-load browsers and search apps, while preserving the offerings and features that help them innovate, compete with Apple, and keep costs low,” the spokesperson added.
