Overview

• The ACCC has filed Federal Court proceedings against Google for admitted anti-competitive deals that restricted rival search engines on smartphones.
• Google acknowledged that between December 2019 and March 2021 it required Telstra and Optus to preinstall its search app and exclude competing services in exchange for ad-revenue shares.
• An A$55 million penalty has been negotiated by both parties but the court must now approve the amount and consider any additional remedies.
• Google has pledged not to impose similar contractual restrictions going forward and Telstra, Optus and TPG provided court-enforceable undertakings in 2024 to cease such agreements.
• Regulators highlight Google’s roughly 91.7 percent share of Australian search queries as evidence of the consumer and competitive harms from device-level restrictions.