The Android “option” screen is a privacy issue

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About a year and a half ago, Google started rop off the opportunity to be one of the search tools of European consumers could choose as usual on Android devices. And for the past year and a half, we’ve seen some experienced ad-targeting giants continue to take those expensive slots.

This auction was the result of a a case of great distrust led by European authorities back in 2018. In addition to hitting the company with a $ 5 billion penalty, regulators also called on Google to start offering consumers a choice on the phones Build their Android in terms of their favorite browser or monitoring app to use, rather than asking them to use Google themselves. Google under duty, but in the most Google way possible: by asking competitors to black out financially for the chance to appear in one of four review slots on the popular Android selection screen.

The results for the latest auction less than promising. When it comes to options, the fact is tens of millions Android users are basically going to have to choose between one of four non-Google options when it comes to research: Microsoft-owned Bing, GMX – owned by German digital behemoth United Internet AG, or the exclusively named PrivacyWall, which has a premium adtech app Social game media.

As TechCrunch celebrating, the one thing all these players have in common is that they get huge profits from tracking and targeting users across a survey, in a very similar way to Google. At the same time, it ‘s worth noting that, despite these alternatives, the research giant is still, well, the study giant in the region. As well as swallowing mostly of the search engine market internationally, Google is largely taking over up 85% of the market share in countries that are members of the European Union.

When asked about the EU’s failure to block Google’s cutting behavior in the region, some competitors put Google’s search ahead told the Washington Post that this is a natural consequence of allowing Google to correct its own problems. In other words, the EU authorities literally let Google down costs its competitors for the privilege of appearing on the Android selection menu – and challenging the company’s key role in the process. Who did they think would win?

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