Among the many internet browsers that we have been able to choose from for years, Google Chrome is the favorite option for the majority. All this despite the constant criticism it receives from a large part of its users.
This is a project that Google offers us and that has been with us for a good number of years. It currently has more than 60% market penetration, far above the rest of its competitors. It is quite likely that many of you have been using this application for quite some time. Hence, you already have your configuration more than established, in addition to a large number of bookmarks and browsing history.
It is precisely for this reason that some of you may have been surprised when when you started Chrome, a somewhat peculiar pop-up message appeared. In it, the program itself asks us to specify the search engine that we want to use here. This is a parameter that some of you do not know, but that has been integrated into the program for years.
Specifically, we are referring to the possibility of establishing another default search engine in Chrome, alternative to Google itself. Hence, many of you may have been struck by the fact that this message suddenly appears to make the change if we wish. The truth is that it doesn’t make much sense to ask us this question at this point, but it has an explanation.
As you can imagine, the search giant does not show this message when starting Chrome by its own decision. Rather, it has been forced to do so to comply with a series of EU regulations.
The EU forces Google to show this message in Chrome
So that you understand, we tell you that recently Google, among other technology companies, were classified by Brussels as Guardians of access. One of the reasons is that they have more than 45 million users within the EU itself.
It is precisely for this reason that the search giant is now forced to meet a series of requirements. The objective of this is to promote free competition and combat monopoly. It is worth mentioning that these requirements come from the Digital Markets Act or DMA.
What is intended is to prevent Google, among other large technology companies, from taking advantage of the dominance of its browser, for example, to take advantage of its default search engine. Hence precisely what we tell you in these same lines. The company has been forced to show this pop-up message where we have the possibility of selecting the default search engine that we want to use in Chrome. All this to comply with the requirements demanded by the DMA that we mentioned.
If it does not follow these requests, Google and the rest of the mentioned companies could face serious sanctions from the European Union. For example, in the case of Google, the fine could reach up to 10% of its annual turnover, which is not small. Therefore, when this message appears when you launch the browser, all you have to do is select the search engine that you are most interested in using from that moment on.
