Google buckles under India’s anti-trust ruling, allows Android users to choose default search engine
Google is facing global scrutiny over its stringent in-app payment policy.
After the Indian Supreme Court refused to block an anti-trust ruling, Google on Wednesday announced that it will let Android users use third-party appsas default search engines in phones and tablet running their operating system (OS).
In a blogpost, Google said that users can choose the default search engines of their choice through “a choice screen” whenever they start setting up a new Android phone or tablet.
The move will allow the smartphone makers to “licence individual Google apps” for pre-installation on their devices as well as “introduce changes for partners to build non-compatible or forked variants.”
Last week, the apex court refused a stay on the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order slapping a $162 million fine on Google for “abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android Mobile device ecosystem”, which covers 97 per cent of India’s smartphone market.
Apart from that, CCI also imposed a series of other measures that let users uninstall the Google-owned apps that come preinstalled on Android devices, such as Google Maps.
“We take our commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously,” Google said in the blog.
“The Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s recent directives for Android and Play require us to make significant changes for India, and today we’ve informed the CCI of how we will be complying with their directives.”
The move comes at a time when the Alphabet-owned company is facing global scrutiny over its stringent in-app payment policy.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of having a monopoly on the digital advertising market.
Google responded by stating the suit “ignores the enormous competition in the online advertising industry.”
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