Google plans to ask all Android smartphone users in Europe whether they want to switch to competing search engines or web browsers, one of two new concessions the search giant is offering to stave off complaints — and potential fines — from European Union antitrust regulators.
The Alphabet Inc. GOOG, +1.23% GOOGL, +1.17% unit said late Tuesday that it would begin offering the choice of search engines and browsers to all new and existing Android users in coming months.
The choice is part of its compliance with a 2018 EU decision that found Google had abused the dominance of Android to strong-arm phone makers into installing its eponymous search engine and Chrome web browser on mobile phones.
Google also said Tuesday that it recently started testing a new format for product ads it shows atop search results that is aimed at sending more traffic to the websites of rival shopping-comparison services. The European Commission, the EU’s main antitrust enforcer, found in 2017 that Google had abused the dominance of its search engine to drive traffic to its own shopping ads at the expense of such rivals. Those cases led to a total of €6.76 billion ($7.67 million) in fines. Google is still appealing those decisions, but the company still had to implement the EU’s orders in the meantime.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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