Please try another search
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - DuckDuckGo and three other search engine rivals to Google on Thursday urged EU lawmakers to take action against the Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) unit via new tech rules, saying they have yet to see positive results from an antitrust ruling against Google.
The European Commission in 2018 levied a record 4.24- billion-euro ($5 billion) fine on Google for unfairly using Android to cement the dominance of its search engine and ordered it to ensure a level playing field for rivals.
Google subsequently made changes and four months ago said it would let rivals compete for free to be the default search engines on Android devices in Europe.
U.S. search engine DuckDuckGo, Germany's Ecosia and French peers Qwant and Lilo said lawmakers should use tech rules drafted by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to ensure competition.
"Despite recent changes, we do not believe it will move market share significantly due to its persisting limitations," they said in a joint letter to European Parliament lawmakers.
They said a preference menu that let users choose their search default when setting up an Android device is not available on Chrome desktop or on other operating systems, and that it is only shown once to users.
"The DMA should enshrine in law a requirement for a search engine preference menu that would effectively ban Google from acquiring default search access points of the operating systems and the browsers of gatekeepers," they said.
The DMA may come into force in 2023 once it gets the green light from EU lawmakers and EU countries.
($1 = 0.8654 euros)
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.