Australia plans to make Google offer search engine choice on smartphones

An Australian regulator said it wants to make Google install a “choice screen” on smartphones so users can pick another search engine if they want, a step toward challenging the Alphabet Inc unit’s dominance of the search market.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also wants to limit Google’s ability to pay Apple Inc to have its search engine installed as the default option on the smartphone maker’s devices, the regulator said in a report on Thursday.
The measures would put Australia roughly in line with Europe, which has forced Google to offer a choice of search engine on phones using its Android operating system. Google has 94% of the Australian search engine market, which makes money by selling advertisements.