Google has admitted wrongdoing in Australia after regulators accused the tech giant of cutting unfair search deals with the country's biggest phone companies.
The settlement, announced Monday, will see Google pay a penalty of A$55 million (about $35.8 million USD) for anti-competitive conduct.
According to TheTechPortal, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found that between December 2019 and March 2021, Google made exclusive agreements with Telstra and Optus.
Under these deals, the telecom companies agreed to pre-install only Google Search on the Android phones they sold.
In return, the telcos received a share of the advertising money generated from those searches.
Regulators say these arrangements created barriers for other search engines, giving Google a near-automatic advantage every time a customer opened a new phone.
"Such conduct substantially lessened competition," the ACCC said, pointing out that most people never change their default search settings.
Google will pay a $35.8 million fine in Australia after regulators said it harmed competition by striking deals with the country’s top telcos to pre-install its search app on Android phones, sidelining rival engines. More here: https://t.co/BcykbPDYKL pic.twitter.com/IQxjknrLiD
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) August 18, 2025
Aussies Gain Choice as Google Removes Pre-Installed Search Rules
As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to remove pre-installed search requirements from contracts with phone makers and networks.
This means consumers in Australia will now have more freedom to choose which search engine they want to use, rather than being locked into Google by default.
In a statement, Google said it was "pleased to resolve the concerns" and promised to give device manufacturers and carriers greater flexibility in offering alternative search engines, RollingStone said. This isn't the first time Australia has challenged Big Tech.
The country has built a reputation for taking on global platforms, from its News Media Bargaining Code—which forced companies like Google and Meta to pay local publishers—to its Epic Games lawsuit, where courts ruled both Apple and Google misused market power in app stores.
For Google, the fine may not sting much given the company's size, but the decision is significant.
By admitting liability, the company avoided a long legal fight and harsher penalties that could have followed a full trial.
It also reduces the chance of this case being used as precedent against it in other ongoing antitrust battles worldwide, including in the United States.
Meanwhile, Telstra and Optus have already promised regulators they will not enter into similar exclusive arrangements again.
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