Sources: DuckDuckGo failed to win Google's Q4 auction for placement on Android's default search engine choice screen in big EU countries
DuckDuckGo is among search engines that lost most auctions to appear in system Google built to comply with a 2018 EU antitrust decision Tweets: @ryan_browne_ , @halsinger , @riptari , @stshank , @caseynewton , @samschech , and @samschech See also Mediagazer Tweets: Ryan Browne / @ryan_browne_ : From what I understand, Google's latest Android “choice screen” auction results are set to be announced this week. And it is indeed bad news for the alternative search engines (e.g. DuckDuckGo, Ecosia & Qwant) https://twitter.com/... Hal Singer / @halsinger : So many takeaways from this failed remedy meant to inject competition in search in Europe. But the primary lesson is that Google should NOT be invited to design the remedy, which will naturally be chosen by Google to entrench its monopoly. https://www.wsj.com/... @riptari : “Anyone with [fewer] ads is getting hurt. Anyone doing privacy is getting hurt. Anyone doing things where they give away profit [to support causes] is getting hurt.” https://www.wsj.com/... Stephen Shankland / @stshank : Sounds like @DuckDuckGo isn't happy about the auction for search engine placement on the Android choice screen in the EU. https://www.wsj.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : “Fuck. Fuck. No!” — DuckDuckGo https://twitter.com/... Sam Schechner / @samschech : Google says that auctions are a fair and objective method to allocate spots on the choice screen. And it notes that companies both big and small have won spots. https://www.wsj.com/... Sam Schechner / @samschech : New: DuckDuckGo didn't any win spots in big EU countries in the latest round of auctions for Google's Android Choice Screen for a user's default search engine—fueling gripes about Google's compliance with a 2018 antitrust decision. https://www.wsj.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The choice screen was Google's remedy to the EU's 2018 antitrust decision, but instead of offering free slots it turned default placement into an auction rivals must bid in. DuckDuckGo entered that auction riding momentum from its privacy-first positioning, which related coverage framed as its best shot at converting EU regulatory pressure into market share.
Losing the Q4 round in the big EU countries means the flagship remedy produced no distribution win for the highest-profile challenger — weeks before Google told US regulators that people 'use Google because they choose to,' a defense of the DOJ case that the auction outcome directly complicates.
First-order effects
- DuckDuckGo — alongside fellow bidders Ecosia and Qwant per the entity list — gets no default placement on Android in the big EU countries for Q4, so the choice-screen remedy delivers them zero guaranteed query volume.
- Google keeps both the defaults and the auction revenue, meaning its compliance mechanism costs rivals money while leaving the status quo untouched where it matters most.
Second-order effects
- Google gains a talking point for antitrust fights on both sides of the Atlantic: it can present the auction itself as proof that alternatives have an open route to users, blunting arguments like those in the DOJ case.
- Alternative engines must fall back on the organic privacy-driven growth path covered in earlier reporting, since paid placement through the remedy is now demonstrably not a viable acquisition channel.
Third-order effects
- If auctions keep failing to move share, regulators lose confidence in choice-screen-style behavioral remedies and face pressure toward structural remedies that change defaults rather than sell slots next to them.
- Challengers' realistic path shifts to erosion outside the remedy framework — consistent with forecasts that Google's search ad dominance is slipping anyway, with eMarketer expecting its US share below 50% in 2025 as Amazon and Apple take ground.
The trend: Platform-built compliance mechanisms are absorbing regulator-mandated choice into pay-to-play auctions that preserve the incumbent's defaults, one losing bidder at a time.