Google has decided to pay $36 million to Australia after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), found that the tech giant's deal with two biggest tech firms of the country caused a huge competition loss to the app market rivals.
ACCC, a consumer watchdog, has revealed that Google paid Australian telecommunication companies, Telstra and Optus, in 2019 and 2021, to pre-install its search engine on android phones as default browser and shared revenue.
The largest search engine worldwide, step has shaken the business of duo competitors in Australia and the internet company admitted the disturbance it caused and is willing to pay a lump sum of A$55 million ($35.8 million) as penalty.
A Google spokesperson commented: “The company is happy to sort out the ACCC's concerns which involve provisions that have not been in our commercial agreements for some time.”
"We are committed to providing android device makers more flexibility to pre-load browsers and search apps and keep costs low," US based tech mogul representative added.
The final court decision is still pending about whether the penalty mutually decided by regulator and respondent is justified or not. Meanwhile the ACCC expressed that cooperation between the litigants has helped to avoid lengthy legal trials.
In addition to that, Australia banned Google's online video sharing platform, Youtube, for children under 16 to prevent users from harmful content subject to the campaign of world first social media ban for youth.