Swiss authority probes Google removal of Android search choice screen

Switzerland's competition authority said Tuesday it had opened a preliminary investigation into Google's removal of the Android "choice screen" feature in Switzerland.

The feature allowed people setting up a new Android device to choose their default search engine. The Secretariat of the Competition Commission, known as COMCO, said Google recently removed the feature in Switzerland. It said this meant Google Search was imposed as the default for Swiss users without a choice screen during initial set-up.

COMCO said the change could reduce the visibility of search engines that compete with Google and could strengthen barriers to entry. It said the practice could affect the ability of search engine providers, and more broadly other digital service providers, to compete.

The authority also said the change created unequal treatment between users in Switzerland and users in the surrounding European Economic Area, even though the competitive issues were comparable. The European Economic Area covers 30 countries, extending the European Union's common market to three other states. Switzerland is not a member of either the EU or the EEA.

COMCO said default settings play a decisive role in digital markets and that the choice screen was intended to reduce lock-in effects linked to preconfigured settings. It said the preliminary investigation would determine whether there were indications of an unlawful restriction of competition under the Cartel Act.

A Google spokesperson said the company was aware of the investigation and looked forward to cooperating fully with the authority to address its questions.

The case follows a separate European Union antitrust matter. At the start of July, the EU's top court upheld a record 4.1-billion-euro, or $4.7 billion, fine against Google over anti-competitive practices related to Android. The European Court of Justice rejected Google's second attempt to overturn the European Commission's 2018 penalty, which remains the EU's highest antitrust fine. The commission had accused Google of using Android's popularity to restrict competition by pressuring phone makers using Android to pre-install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser, limiting rivals.