Switzerland’s Competition Commission opened a preliminary investigation into Google on Tuesday, after the search engine selection prompt that Android owners elsewhere in Europe still meet when they switch on a new handset quietly stopped appearing on Swiss phones.
The feature, known as the Choice Screen, asks users which search engine they want as their default during the initial set-up of a new device. COMCO says Google recently removed it in Switzerland while leaving it running in the European Economic Area.
The practical consequence is that Swiss buyers now get Google Search as their default without being asked.
“This new practice by Google could affect the ability of search engine providers and, more broadly, other digital service providers to compete,” the authority said in a statement.
It added that the change “creates an unequal treatment between Swiss users and those in the European Economic Area”.
