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EU: Google offers better terms to rival search engines

By  |  October 23, 2019

European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager is offering better terms to rival search engines that want to appear on Android phones under a US$4.8 billion antitrust decision against the tech giant.

Under the new terms, disclosed online earlier this week, Google will effectively charge other search engines less money, and sometimes no money, to appear on a “choice screen” that allows new Android-phone users in Europe to choose a default search engine.

According to the Journal, the changes show how Ms. Vestager is taking a tougher stance on the US tech giant, two weeks after she acknowledged that the record fines she has slapped on Google weren’t “doing the trick” and that more sweeping remedies are needed. 

“We have been discussing the choice screen mechanism with Google,” a spokeswoman for Ms. Vestager said, adding the talks came after the EU received feedback from search rivals about the choice screen.

Full Content: Wall Street Journal

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