Australia plans to make Google offer alternative search engines on smartphones

FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a Google app icon is seen in front of a displayed Australian flag in this illustration, Jan. 22, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian regulator said it wants to make Google install a "choice screen" on smartphones so users can pick another search engine if they want, a step toward challenging the Alphabet Inc unit's dominance of the search market.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also wants to limit Google's ability to pay Apple Inc to have its search engine installed as the default option on the smartphone maker's devices, the regulator said in a report on Thursday.