In March last year, Google made a statement regarding its search engine and promised to give owners
Why?
Of course, Google didn't come up with this idea on its own. Previously, devices running Android OS used the Google search engine by default, but the European Commission recognized this as a monopoly.
In the summer of 2018, the European Commission fined Googlefor a record 4.35 billion euros on charges of abuse of a dominant position in the market for operating systems for Android mobile devices. “Since 2011, Google has unlawfully restricted the work of Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators in order to consolidate its dominant position in the Internet search market,” the EC concluded.
In particular, Google, as a condition of the license for access to the Play Store application store, required manufacturers to pre-install the Google search engine and the Chrome browser on all Android devices.
What now
Starting from March, owners of new smartphones in EU countries will be able to independently choose which search engine to use. In addition to Google, there will be three more search engines on the list - different in each country.
Every 4 months, Google will hold an auction to select new search engines. The participants who provide the highest bids will win.
Google has already identified the search engines that willvalid from March to July. The most popular alternative will be DuckDuckGo. Users will also be able to choose from GMX, Info.com, Qwant, Yandex and PrivacyWall, and in the UK, Microsoft Bing.
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True, not all auction participants are happy with this scheme. First of all, they are not satisfied with the fact that Google makes the choice, which means it still remains a monopolist.
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