Google agrees to $36 million fine over anti-competitive deals with Australian telcos

[Google headquarters in London, UK]
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Google (NASDAQ:GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) agreed on Monday to pay a fine of A$55 million ($35.8 million) in Australia after the country’s consumer watchdog determined that it had harmed competition by paying the two largest telecommunications companies to pre-install its search app on Android phones.

This arrangement, the regulator said, effectively shut out rival search engines and harmed market competition.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) stated that the understandings, which were in place between December 2019 and March 2021, required Telstra and Optus to pre-install Google Search on Android phones they sold to consumers, but not other search engines.

In return, Telstra and Optus received a share of the revenue Google generated from ads displayed to consumers when they used Google Search on their Android phones, the agency said [https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/google-admits-anti-competitive-conduct-involving-google-search-in-australia].

Google has cooperated with the regulator, admitted liability and agreed to jointly submit to the Federal Court that it should pay a total penalty of A$55 million ($35.8 million), the ACCC added.

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