Google announced its plans for the first time in 2019. The company aims to hold an auction for three of the four positions of a new search engine selection screen on Android devices that were first installed on March 1, 2020.
The decision follows a decision by the European Union and a fine of 4,3 billion euros for anti-competitive practices of Google in the provision of services of other search engines, Chrome browser and Android operating system.
Google revealed in 2019 that it would auction three of the four positions in a list of other search engines. The fourth place of course is not auctioned as it is intended for the search engine of the company itself. This list will be displayed to Android users from the European Union,
To make its decision, Google decided to conduct the auction for each EU Member State separately.
However, the CEOs of other search companies were not happy and that is why some companies, such as Ecosia, decided to boycott the auction. Google plans to hold similar auctions every four months and show search engines the choices of each country.
The first list of companies was released (posted from TheVerge) and is full of surprises. If you check the list, you will notice that DuckDuckGo has won a place in every EU Member State. The Microsoft Bing search engine has a place in the United Kingdom only.
Next to DuckDuckGo, is Info (dot.com) which comes second, followed by Russian Yandex, Qwant and PrivacyWall.
In Greece, DuckDuckGo, Info.com, and Qwant.
See the List:
Austria: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Belgium: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Bulgaria: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Croatia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Czech Republic: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, List
Denmark: DuckDuckGo, Givero, Info.com
Estonia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Finland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
France: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Germany: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Greece: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Hungary: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Iceland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Ireland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Italy: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Latvia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Liechtenstein: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Lithuania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Luxembourg: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Malta: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Netherlands: DuckDuckGo, GMX, Info.com
Norway: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Poland: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Yandex
Portugal: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Republic of Cyprus: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Romania: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Slovakia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, List
Slovenia: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
Spain: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, Qwant
Sweden: DuckDuckGo, Info.com, PrivacyWall
United Kingdom: Bing, DuckDuckGo, Info.com
The list may not reflect the search engine popularity in a country, but it does show the companies bidding and the highest amounts (they give for each user) at auction.
To see if the EU executives involved are satisfied with the application or if Google is asked to change the process.
Android users will be able to change the search engine and will also be able to install other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave, the Opera or Vivaldi on their device.
