Earlier this year, Google lost an antitrust case in Russia over the restrictions it places on Android devices. As part of a settlement with the country’s antimonopoly agency FAS, the US tech giant has made changes to its Chrome app, which now prompts users to select a default search engine when it launches for the first time.

In a blog post, Russian search engine Yandex described the change as a “huge milestone” and said it had been working for it “for a long time.” Yandex is Google’s biggest rival in Russia, with both companies holding roughly 47.5 percent of the market. As users switch from desktop to mobile, asking them to actively choose a search engine (rather than burying that choice in the settings menu) makes a big difference.

…

Continue reading…