Aug. 18 (UPI) — The Australian government announced Monday that Google must pay after having admitted to making monopolistic preinstallation deals with Android manufacturers.
An agreement, made in federal court between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Google, would see the U.S.-based tech company penalized for around $360 million. The court will ultimately decide if the penalty is appropriate.
The arrangement comes after Google LLC and its Google Asia Pacific regional entity confessed to making contractual arrangements with Android Original Equipment Manufacturers and Australian Mobile Network Operators in regard to the “preinstallation and placement of Google Search and the Chrome Browser Application on Android devices.”
The ACCC considers such pledged provisions to be in violation of Section 45 of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 which bans anti-competitive agreements.
According to the ACCC, the Telstra and Optus telecommunications companies made deals with Google between December 2019 and March 2021 to only preinstall Google Search on the Android phones they sold, but no other search engines.
In return, the companies received a share of the revenue generated from advertising during the use of Google Search on the devices.
Google has admitted that reaching those understandings with each of Telstra and Optus was likely to lessen competition.
However, the ACCC added that “Google does not agree with all of the ACCC’s concerns but has acknowledged them and offered the undertaking to address these concerns.”
Nonetheless, under the agreement, Google will also remove particular preinstallation and default search engine restrictions from its contracts with Android phone manufacturers and telecommunications companies.
Telstra and Optus, as well as the telecommunications provider TPG, agreed last year not to renew or make new exclusive search engine deals with Google.
“Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers,” said ACCC Chairperson Gina-Cass Gottlieb in the release.
“Today’s outcome, along with Telstra, Optus and TPG’s undertakings, have 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,” she added.