Google Antiturst Settlement: Google Agrees To Pay $8 Million In Fines, Open Up Android In Russia

Google has agreed to a settlement in an antitrust case with the Russian government that will require the search giant to pay nearly $8 million in fines and allow third-party search engines to operate on its Android devices.

The settlement puts an end to a two-year dispute brought by Russian search engine Yandex to break Google’s hold on pre-installed apps and search engines that are allowed to operate on Android handsets and tablets.

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Yandex’s complaint was taken up by Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which "issued a prescription to Google in order to require the company to remove anti-competitive restrictions from its agreements with manufacturers."

In practice, that prescription will prevent Google from restricting third-party companies from pre-installing apps on Android devices. It also will deter Google giving its own services “preferential treatment” by littering the home screen with its own apps. Finally, the agreement will get rid of Google’s monopoly as the default search engine on the device.

To achieve this newfound openness on the Android platform, Google will develop a “choice window” for its Chrome browser that will provide users in Russia the ability to change the default search engine. The company will also develop a new search widget that will allow users to perform searches on the device outside the browser while still using third-party search engines.

In addition to the changes, which Google will have 60 days to implement after the agreement is finalized, the company will also have to pony up $7.85 million in fines for violating Russian antitrust laws.

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Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh praised the agreement. “Under the terms of the settlement, 55 million Russian Android users will be offered a choice of search engines on their mobile devices,” he wrote in a blog post.

Google still has a number of outstanding antitrust cases over its perceived monopoly on Android devices, including one brought against the company by the European Commission that could result in $7.5 billion in fines.