The ACCC has today commenced Federal Court proceedings against Google Asia Pacific over anti-competitive understandings that Google admits it reached in the past with Telstra and Optus regarding the pre-installation of Google Search on Android mobile phones.
Google has co-operated with the ACCC, admitted liability and agreed to jointly submit to the Court that Google should pay a total penalty of $55 million. It is a matter for the Court to determine whether the penalty and other orders are appropriate.
The understandings, which were in place between December 2019 and March 2021, required Telstra and Optus to only pre-install Google Search on Android phones they sold to consumers, and not other search engines.
In return, Telstra and Optus received a share of the revenue Google generated from ads displayed to consumers when they used Google Search on their Android phones.
Google has admitted in reaching those understandings with each of Telstra and Optus it was likely to have had the effect of substantially lessening competition.
Google and its US parent company, Google LLC, have also signed a court-enforceable undertaking which the ACCC has accepted to address the ACCC's broader competition concerns relating to contractual arrangements between Google, Android phone manufacturers and Australian telcos since 2017. Google does not agree with all of the ACCC's concerns but has acknowledged them and offered the undertaking to address these concerns.
In the undertaking, Google commits to removing certain pre-installation and default search engine restrictions from its contracts with Android phone manufacturers and telcos.
Google's undertaking is in addition to court-enforceable undertakings provided by Telstra, Optus and TPG last year. The ACCC accepted these telco undertakings to resolve concerns about the telcos' agreements with Google. The telcos are not parties to the proceedings commenced today.
"Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers," ACCC Chair Gina-Cass Gottlieb said.
"Today's outcome, along with Telstra, Optus and TPG's undertakings, have created the potential for millions of Australians to have greater search choice in the future, and for competing search providers to gain meaningful exposure to Australian consumers."
"Importantly, these changes come at a time when AI search tools are revolutionising how we search for information, creating new competition," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
In the court-enforceable undertakings that the ACCC accepted from Telstra and Optus (in June 2024) and TPG (in August 2024), the companies undertook not to renew or make new arrangements with Google that require its search services to be pre-installed and set as the default search function on an exclusive basis on Android devices they supply.
The three telcos can configure search services on a device-by-device basis, and in ways that may not align with the settings set by Google. They can also enter into pre-installation agreements with other search providers.
"With AI search tools becoming increasingly available, consumers can experiment with search services on their mobiles," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Today's proceedings follow a lengthy ACCC investigation, after broader concerns about Google's contractual arrangements for Google Search emerged during the ACCC's Digital Platform Services Inquiry's report into search defaults and choice screens.
"Co-operation with the ACCC is encouraged. It can avoid the need for protracted and costly litigation and lead to more competition. More competition in markets drives economic dynamism, but the reverse is true when markets are not sufficiently competitive," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"The ACCC remains committed to addressing anti-competitive conduct like this, as well as cartel conduct. Competition issues in the digital economy are a current priority area."
A copy of Google's undertaking is available on the ACCC's Public Register.
Background
Google LLC and Google Asia Pacific
Google LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
Since at least 2017, Google LLC and/or its related bodies corporate have signed many contractual arrangements to distribute Google apps, including Google Search. These agreements include mobile application distribution agreements and revenue share agreements.
Google Asia Pacific is the contracting counterparty for mobile revenue share agreements in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia.
Admitted conduct
The ACCC's court action relates only to revenue share agreements with Telstra and Optus which were renewed between December 2019 and March 2021.
Google Asia Pacific has admitted, for the purposes of the Federal Court proceedings only, that in or around December 2019, it arrived at two separate understandings, one with Telstra and one with Optus, each containing a provision which:
(1) was to the effect that the parties would continue to be bound by the terms of their respective revenue share agreements containing the Platform-wide Provisions until they concluded negotiations regarding a further revenue share agreement; and
(2) was likely to have the effect of making it more difficult to obtain the distribution of general search engine services in Australia during the period from December 2019 until the end of March 2021 and, thereby, to have the likely effect of hindering competition in the market in Australia in which general search engine services were supplied; and
that by arriving at those understandings, Google Asia Pacific engaged in two separate contraventions of section 45(1)(a) of the CCA.
The Platform-wide provisions were provisions of the relevant Google mobile revenue share agreement which required, as a condition of Telstra and Optus receiving a share of search advertising revenue generated through certain search access points on Android mobile devices supplied in Australia by Telstra and Optus, that:
(1) all search access points on such devices were configured to utilise Google Search out-of the-box; and
(2) Telstra or Optus could not implement, preload or otherwise install on any such device out-of-the-box, or present, introduce, or suggest to an end user of such a device, any general search engine service that was substantially similar to Google Search.
The Digital Platforms Services Inquiry
The ACCC's Digital Platforms Branch conducted a five-year inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia and their impacts on competition and consumers, which included an update on general search services, published in December 2024.
In the inquiry's fifth report, published in November 2022, the ACCC made a range of recommendations to bolster competition in the digital economy, level the playing field between big tech companies and Australian businesses, and reduce prices for consumers.
In this report the ACCC recommended a new regulatory regime to promote competition in digital platform services. One of the ACCC's recommendations was for the government to introduce a framework for mandatory service-specific codes for Designated Digital Platforms to address a range of competition issues, including exclusive pre-installation and default agreements that hinder competition. Treasury has consulted on a proposed approach to implement a new digital competition regime administered by the ACCC.
Court documents
Because this matter was resolved between the parties before the commencement of litigation, this proceeding has been commenced in the Federal Court by the ACCC filing an originating application, accompanied by an affidavit which is not a public document, and the undertaking given to the ACCC.
ACCC v Google Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. - Originating Application - 18 August 2025 ( PDF 662.45 KB )
