ACCC wants choice on Google’s Android

The consumer watchdog wants to force Google’s hand if it won’t give us choices already available in Europe.

Many phones run Google’s Android operating system, including its own Pixel models. Picture: AFP

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will force Google to let consumers choose their default search engine and internet browser while using its Android software.

Rather than be taken directly to Google’s search engine and the Chrome browser, the competition regulator wants consumers to be given a number of options.

It’s something Google has already done in Europe, after the European Union slugged the tech giant with a record $US5 billion fine last year.

In March, Google agreed to give Android users in Europe wider browser and search engine choice, users of existing and new Android devices, which include phones and tablets, as well as some “smart” TVs, explicitly asked which browser and search apps they would like to use.

The ACCC wants Google to follow suit in Australia, forced by the federal government if it does not do so voluntarily.

“Google should provide Australian users of Android devices with the same options being rolled out to existing Android users in Europe; that is, the ability to choose their default search engine and default internet browser from a number of options,” the final report of the Digital platforms inquiry says.

“If Google does not introduce similar options for Australian Android users by six months from the date of the report, the ACCC will submit to the government that it should consider compelling Google to offer this choice.”

The recommendation is one of a number of measures prescribed by the regulator after its 18-month inquiry into the market power of Google and Facebook in Australia.

According to the ACCC, giving consumers more choice of browsers and search engines was crucial to breaking the “default bias” which benefits Google.

“The ACCC identified customer inertia as a barrier to expansion and considered that customer inertia is reinforced by a default bias that exists with Google Search being the default search engine on a number of internet browsers, and Google Chrome being the default internet browser on a number of operating systems.”

Google benefits from its position as the default search engine on both the Chrome browser (owned by Google), and the Safari browser (owned by Apple), which together account for more than 80 per cent of the Australian market for browsers.

Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on its Safari browser, shelling out $US9 billion for the spot in 2018 and close to $US12bn in 2019.

“The preliminary recommendation has the potential to improve competition in the supply of search services by lowering barriers to entry and expansion for rivals to Google Search that are not vertically integrated with browser,” the ACCC said.