Some of you might recall that many years ago, Microsoft ran into some antitrust issues where they were accused of forcing Internet Explorer onto its Windows users. Clearly that has set a precedent because over in Europe, Google has run into similar problems where back in 2018, the company was hit with a $5 billion fine by the EU.The company has since made some changes where in an announcement on its blog, Google has revealed that for Android users living in Europe, they will now be given a choice and asked which browser they want to use and even which search applications they might prefer, even if it does not necessarily mean using Chrome or Google search.
Android has always allowed users to choose their own preferred apps for launching certain actions, but we suppose that might not have always been clear. These changes will make it so that users are aware that if they do want to change their browser from Chrome to Firefox or Opera or Edge, they can go ahead and do so.
According to Google, “After the Commission’s July 2018 decision, we changed the licensing model for the Google apps we build for use on Android phones, creating new, separate licenses for Google Play, the Google Chrome browser, and for Google Search. In doing so, we maintained the freedom for phone makers to install any alternative app alongside a Google app.”
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