Google will charge its chosen competitors in its place on Android

Forced to offer different search engines on its Android operating system, Google will pay its competitors via an auction system when a user will choose, announced the company Friday.

On 18 July 2018, the European Commission imposed a record fine of 4.34 billion euros on Google for abusing Android's dominant position to establish the hegemony of its online search service.

Starting in January, Android phones and tablets sold in Europe with Google Search preinstalled will display a special screen when they are first used to choose their default search engine from four choices, including Google's.

To select its competitors, Google has announced that it will organize each year auctions by country.

"The search engines will indicate the price they are willing to pay each time a user selects them," said Google in an explanatory page on the site of Android. Above a floor price, the top three bids will appear in random order on the screen of choice, alongside the house engine.

Each month, Google will send an invoice to its competitors whose amount will be calculated based on the number of users who have chosen it on this screen.

Search engines have until September 13 to submit an auction bid, the results of which will be released on October 31.

"An auction is a fair and objective way to determine which search engines will be included on the screen of choice.This allows them to decide the value of their presence on this screen and to bid on it," justified the American giant.

Google's search results are very popular on the internet, with the US giant controlling about 90% of the European search market, according to EU data.