The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is calling for submissions from the public about the choices on their device screens for making use of internet search services on mobiles and tablets, and about the supply of web browsers in Australia.
Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims said submissions to an ACCC issues paper would inform an upcoming report on the impact of default settings and the pre-installation of search services and web browsers on choices for the consumer and competition between suppliers
Mr Sims said the report, to be released later this year, would examine what measures (other than choice screens) could encourage competition and improve consumer choice for search services and web browsers.
He said the ACCC’s 2019 report, Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report, found that Google’s Chrome browser was pre-installed on nearly all Android devices and that it was the default option on Google Chrome and on Apple’s Safari mobile browsers, which made it the default search on over 95 per cent of mobile devices.
“It also found that substantial payments are made by Google to Apple for Google search to be the default on Safari,” Mr Sims said.
“We know that, in general, setting a default option substantially increases the likelihood that consumers and businesses will stick with that option,” he said.
“This can have the effect of reducing competition and consumer choice in the supply of these services.”
Mr Sims said the ACCC wanted to hear from consumers and businesses about how the services were used when they were pre-installed, or were default settings on devices.
“We’re also interested in how the design of user interfaces on devices, such as widgets, search bars, and the steps required for a consumer to change a default search service, can affect how consumers use these services,” he said.
The ACCC’s 24-page Issues Paper, including information on how to have a say, can be accessed at this PS News link.
