Google has agreed to pay a A$55 million ($35.8 million) fine in Australia after the country’s consumer watchdog found that the company had harmed competition. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) discovered that Google paid Australia’s two largest telecommunications companies, Telstra and Optus, to pre-install its search application on Android phones, effectively excluding rival search engines.
This fine marks a challenging period for the Alphabet-owned tech giant in Australia. Just last week, a court largely ruled against Google in a lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, which accused both Google and Apple of preventing rival application stores on their operating systems.
Last month, Google’s YouTube was also added to an Australian ban on social media platforms that admit users under the age of 16, reversing a previous decision to exempt the video-sharing site.
The ACCC stated that from late 2019 to early 2021, Google had deals with Telstra and Optus to share advertising revenue generated from Google Search on Android devices. Google admitted that this arrangement had a substantial impact on competition from rival search engines. The company has since stopped signing similar deals and has agreed to the fine, which the ACCC and Google have jointly submitted to the Federal Court for approval.
ACCC Chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb commented that the outcome “created the potential for millions of Australians to have greater search choice in the future, and for competing search providers to gain meaningful exposure to Australian consumers.”
A Google spokesperson said the company was pleased to resolve the ACCC’s concerns, noting that the provisions in question “haven’t been in our commercial agreements for some time.” The spokesperson added that Google is committed to providing Android device makers with more flexibility to pre-load browsers and search apps.
