Other search tools, including those AI-enhanced, can now compete: ACCC deputy chair
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced that the Federal Court has imposed $55m in penalties on Google Asia Pacific for anti-competitive conduct through its understandings with Telstra and Optus regarding pre-installing Google Search on Android mobile phones.
“This penalty should send a strong message to all businesses that there are serious and costly consequences for engaging in anti-competitive conduct,” said Mick Keogh, ACCC deputy chair, in a media release.
“Our market economy is predicated on businesses competing freely with each other, which is why locking out competing businesses in a way that substantially lessens competition is illegal,” Keogh added.
Google executed the understandings with the telecommunications companies (telcos) between December 2019 and March 2021. The understandings required Telstra and Optus to pre-install Google Search to the exclusion of other search engines on Android phones supplied to consumers.
In exchange, the telcos got a share of Google’s revenue from advertisements consumers saw when using Google Search on their Android phones.
In its media release, the ACCC emphasised that it considers competition issues amid the digital economy a priority for compliance and enforcement.
“Search tools, including those that incorporate AI, are rapidly changing how we search for information, and it’s critical that competitors to Google can gain meaningful exposure to Australian consumers,” Keogh said.
The ACCC’s media release provided more information regarding the proceedings. Last year, the ACCC accepted court-enforceable undertakings from Telstra, Optus, and TPG.
In the undertakings, the three telcos agreed to resolve issues regarding their involvement in the understandings with Google, as well as refrain from commencing or recommencing arrangements with Google that required them to pre-install Google Search and set it as the default search function on an exclusive basis on Android devices sold to customers.
Google cooperated with the ACCC by admitting to anti-competitive conduct that likely substantially lessened competition and agreeing to joint submissions regarding penalties.
On 18 August 2025, Google Asia Pacific and the US-based Google LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., provided a court-enforceable undertaking committing to eliminating specific pre-installation and default search engine restrictions from their contracts with Android phone manufacturers and telcos.
“Today’s outcome, combined with the undertakings from Google and the telcos, creates the potential for millions of Australians to have greater search choice in the future,” Keogh said in the ACCC’s media release. “Other search tools, including those enhanced by artificial intelligence, can now compete with Google for pre-installation on Android phones.”
The ACCC initiated the present Federal Court proceedings against Google Asia Pacific last 18 August 2025. The ACCC noted that Telstra, Optus, and TPG were not parties to the proceedings.
