Google to Pay $36m Fine Over Android Search Deals

Google has agreed to pay a US$36 million (about Aus$55 million) fine after admitting to making anti-competitive arrangements with two of Australia’s biggest telecom companies, Telstra and Optus.

According to Australia’s competition watchdog, the deals required the telecom firms to pre-install only Google’s search engine on Android devices sold between December 2019 and March 2021. 

In exchange, Telstra and Optus received a share of advertising revenue generated from Google searches.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the practice limited competition, reduced consumer choice, and could have led to higher costs or poorer services.

 “Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers,” ACCC chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb explained.

The case was taken to the Federal Court, where Google Asia Pacific and the regulator jointly submitted that the company should pay the fine. The court will now decide whether the penalty and additional orders are suitable.

Google admitted that the arrangements likely lessened competition but stressed that such provisions were no longer part of its contracts.

A company spokesperson noted that Google is now committed to offering Android phone manufacturers more flexibility to preload different browsers and search apps.

Meanwhile, both Telstra and Optus had already agreed to legally binding commitments last year not to enter into similar exclusive arrangements again.

The penalty is another sign of global regulators tightening their grip on Big Tech firms, especially around practices that give them unfair advantages in digital markets.