Google’s rivals would be allowed by its parent company Alphabet to compete for the position of being chosen at the default search engines on new Android devices in Europe but against the payment of a price for the measure.

For this purpose, Google would auction spots on a “choice screen” which will allow users to select their preferred search engine, the company announced on Friday. Analysts see this is the latest effort by Google to please the antitrust authorities of the European Union and avoid penalties.

Google was slapped a fine of .34 billion euros or $4.81 billion by the European Commission over charges that the company had illegally blocked rival search engines by pre-installing its Chrome browser app on Android smartphones and notebooks. The United States based tech giant was also advised by the Commission that it should immediately stop all business practices that are anti competitive or else would be faced with the fine that would be as high as 5 per cent of the average annual worldwide turnover of Alphabet.

Starting in early 2020, users in Europe would be given the option of picking a default search engine from among four alternatives which would include Google when the users set up their new Android smartphone or tablet, Google said in a blog post.

Separate auctions for each individual country would be held for the four options by Google and which can be participated in by rival search engines. In situations where three or less than three bidding search engine companies meet up or exceed the bid threshold, Google will make a random selection of companies for the remaining vacant positions from within a pool that would comprise of those companies that requested participation in the auctions but did not submit any bids.

This plan of Google was not received well by its rivals even though it would allow users to chose the search engine of their choice as the default one for new Android devices for the first time.

“It’s Google’s way of creating a new revenue stream while giving rivals an option. Basically they are complying with the EU order in the letter but not in the spirit,” said Ecosia, which describes itself as an ethical search engine that uses profits to plant trees.

Google’s post used Ecosia as an example of one of its rivals.

“If we choose to enter an auction and pay Google for the privilege of being a search engine option on Android, this will potentially be at the expense of millions of trees we could otherwise have planted,” said Ecosia Chief Executive Christian Kroll.

“The EU’s anti-competition ruling is clear – Google has too much power. The decision over which search engines are able to use Android, which is the second-largest operating system in the world, shouldn’t be up to Google. It should be up to users.”

It was not clear what the implications will be, said the Czech search engine Seznam. “It is hard to comment based on a screenshot and a few sentences. Seznam, and I believe others, too, were not contacted by Google about this proposition, so we have to wait for all-important details,” said Michal Feix, Seznam’s former chief executive and now partner at a consultancy advising the company.

(Adapted form TheHindustanTimes.com)