Google Penalized for Anti-Competitive Android Deals with Telecoms

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is among the best stocks to buy now according to AI. On Monday, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) agreed to pay A$55 million ($35.8 million) in fines in Australia, following the nation’s consumer watchdog finding that it had undermined competition by paying the two leading telecommunications companies to pre-install its search app on Android phones. This arrangement has not only shut down rival search engines but also disrupted the whole market.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Google’s agreements with Telstra and Optus, between December 2019 and March 2021, required them to pre-install Google Search on all Android devices sold to customers, whereas this didn’t apply to other search engines.

The two tech giants were, in exchange, granted a share in the revenues generated from ads viewed by the consumers on their Android handsets. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has come clean about it by accepting the penalties.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a California-based company that operates through its Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. Incorporated in 1998, the company has delivered a 5-year return of 173.43% in contrast to the 91.23% return of the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

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