Published on, Aug. 19 -- August 19, 2025 4:41 PM

Google has agreed to pay a penalty of US$36 million after admitting it made anti-competitive deals with Australian telecom companies to pre-install its search engine exclusively on Android phones. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) confirmed that the agreements limited competition and reduced consumer choice during the period between December 2019 and March 2021.

The ACCC stated that these arrangements were illegal because they restricted competition, which often results in fewer choices, higher costs, or reduced service quality for consumers. Google reached these deals with Telstra and Optus, both of which benefited by receiving a share of the advertising revenue g...