Google is finally ready to give Android users in EU the choice of alternative search engines but surprisingly it’s DuckDuckGo that has been regarded as the most preferred choice whereas Bing stood at last.
From 1st March 2020, European Union citizens will get the advantage to choose one out of four search engines as their default (including Google). By doing so, they will not only see their selected choice for making searches in Chrome, but also through Android home screen search box and a dedicated app will also be installed on the device of that provider.
The introduction of this “choice screen” seems to be a clear response to the antitrust ruling from the European Union during last March and how Google was fined $5 billion by EU regulators. According to them, Google was playing illegally in tying up the search engine to its browser for mobile OS.
The search engines would differ as per each EU country and its users, whereas the selection of it would depend entirely on “fourth price” auction system. The providers will have to inform Google about the money they are willing to pay when a user will make the selection of trusting their product as default. Three best bidders will be presented to the users and the selected one will have to pay the amount which equalizes fourth highest bid. Moreover, the process will get repeated after every 4 months.
Hence, going by this rule, you can expect Google to not show search engines which are popular but the ones whose providers are willing to pay well. Furthermore, this point also self-explains why Microsoft Bing is only taken as an option in the UK - especially when the revenue coming from the search ads going in the country might even be more than that of many lower GDP nations.
When the auctions system was revealed in last August by Google, the rival search providers had their excuses. Some of them included Eric Leandri, CEO of privacy-focused search engine Qwant, who considered it as “total abuse of [Google’s] dominant position”. Going by more words, he also openly explained the process in a simple way by saying “ask for cash just for showing a proposal of alternatives.”
Moving beyond, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo truly believed that auction system was a “pay-to-play” game which raised the doubt that Google might make profit at the expense of the competition.
The CEO of Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees from its profits was brave enough to boycott the auction completely. In fact the founder Christian Kroll also gave a press statement saying Google’s decision has been very odd with the spirit of the July 2018 EU Commission ruling. Kroll also claimed that it's monopolistic behavior with European Union legislators by Google.
The full section of the search engines that would be shown to the EU are:
United Kingdom: Bing, DuckDuckGo, Info.com
Sweden: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Spain: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Slovenia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Slovakia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Seznam
Romania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Republic of Cyprus: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Portugal: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Poland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Norway: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Netherlands: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Malta: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Luxembourg: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Lithuania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Liechtenstein: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Latvia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Italy: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Ireland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Iceland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Hungary: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Greece: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Germany: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
France: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Finland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Estonia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Denmark: DuckDuckGo, Givero, Info.com
Czech Republic: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Seznam
Croatia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Bulgaria: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Belgium: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Austria: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Read next: Are Browser Notifications Irritating You? Wait for Google Chrome’s New Update
From 1st March 2020, European Union citizens will get the advantage to choose one out of four search engines as their default (including Google). By doing so, they will not only see their selected choice for making searches in Chrome, but also through Android home screen search box and a dedicated app will also be installed on the device of that provider.
The introduction of this “choice screen” seems to be a clear response to the antitrust ruling from the European Union during last March and how Google was fined $5 billion by EU regulators. According to them, Google was playing illegally in tying up the search engine to its browser for mobile OS.
The search engines would differ as per each EU country and its users, whereas the selection of it would depend entirely on “fourth price” auction system. The providers will have to inform Google about the money they are willing to pay when a user will make the selection of trusting their product as default. Three best bidders will be presented to the users and the selected one will have to pay the amount which equalizes fourth highest bid. Moreover, the process will get repeated after every 4 months.
Hence, going by this rule, you can expect Google to not show search engines which are popular but the ones whose providers are willing to pay well. Furthermore, this point also self-explains why Microsoft Bing is only taken as an option in the UK - especially when the revenue coming from the search ads going in the country might even be more than that of many lower GDP nations.
When the auctions system was revealed in last August by Google, the rival search providers had their excuses. Some of them included Eric Leandri, CEO of privacy-focused search engine Qwant, who considered it as “total abuse of [Google’s] dominant position”. Going by more words, he also openly explained the process in a simple way by saying “ask for cash just for showing a proposal of alternatives.”
Moving beyond, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo truly believed that auction system was a “pay-to-play” game which raised the doubt that Google might make profit at the expense of the competition.
The CEO of Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees from its profits was brave enough to boycott the auction completely. In fact the founder Christian Kroll also gave a press statement saying Google’s decision has been very odd with the spirit of the July 2018 EU Commission ruling. Kroll also claimed that it's monopolistic behavior with European Union legislators by Google.
The full section of the search engines that would be shown to the EU are:
United Kingdom: Bing, DuckDuckGo, Info.com
Sweden: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Spain: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Slovenia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Slovakia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Seznam
Romania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Republic of Cyprus: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Portugal: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Poland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Norway: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Netherlands: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Malta: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Luxembourg: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Lithuania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Liechtenstein: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Latvia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Italy: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Ireland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Iceland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Hungary: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Greece: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Germany: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
France: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Finland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Estonia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Denmark: DuckDuckGo, Givero, Info.com
Czech Republic: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Seznam
Croatia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Bulgaria: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Belgium: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Austria: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Read next: Are Browser Notifications Irritating You? Wait for Google Chrome’s New Update
