DuckDuckGo attacks Google's Android auction for stopping users easily making it their default search engine

DuckDuckGo claims that the auction encouraged search engines to prioritise profits over privacy

(DuckDuckGo)

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has criticised Google’s ‘pay-to-play’ auction which saw it beaten as an option for Android users in Europe by Microsoft’s Bing.

Google had been forced by the European Commission to offer alternative options for the default search engine on Android because it was deemed anticompetitive.

The commission said that Google had “obstructed the development of competing mobile operating systems which could have provided a platform for rival search engines to gain traffic”.

Google then offered an auction to other companies, allowing them to pay for inclusion on Android.

“The choice screen will always show a maximum of 4 providers, including Google. The auction winners, and Google, will be ordered randomly in the choice screen on a per device basis,” Google said.

“In the event of a tie, Google will allocate the slots randomly among the tied bidders on a per device basis.”

The options change based on each EU country. In the United Kingdom, the options are between Bing, info.com, and PrivacyWall. In Slovenia, by contrast, the options are either Ecosia, GMX, or info.com.

Across all European countries, PrivacyWall is offered 22 times, GMX is offered 16 times, Bing is offered 13 times, Yandex is offered eight times, as is DuckDuckGo. Info.com, by contrast, is offered in all 31 countries.

DuckDuckGo claims that the result of this auction means that “only the highest bidders are on the menu”, incentivising profit over privacy so they can afford to place higher bids.

The company also claims that DuckDuckGo was the second most-selected search engine, after Google, but was priced out of contention.

“Despite DuckDuckGo being robustly profitable since 2014, we have been priced out of this auction because we choose to not maximize our profits by exploiting our users”, the company said.

“In practical terms, this means our commitment to privacy and a cleaner search experience translates into less money per search. This means we must bid less relative to other, profit-maximizing companies.”

The company says that as a result of Google’s auction, search engines are incentivised to “be worse on privacy, to increase ads, and to not donate to good causes, because, if they do those things, then they could afford to bid higher.”

Instead, DuckDuckGo proposes that the European Commission take action to remove the auction and allow alternative search engines with the most market share to be shown on the setup screen in a random order, with the remaining search engines available by scrolling.

The Independent has reached out to Google and the European Commission for comment.