The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday imposed a penalty on the tech giant Google. The fine that amounts to Rs 1,337.76 crore has been levied on Alphabet’s Google for alleged anti-competitive practices, especially related to Android mobile devices.
The release from CCI reads, “Accordingly, in terms of the provisions of Section 27 of the Act, the Commission has imposed monetary penalty as well as issued cease and desist order against Google from indulging in anti-competitive practices that have been found to be in contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act.”
As far as Android is concerned, it is an open-source, mobile operating system installed by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in smartphones, tablets and other such devices.
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In the detailed order, the CCI has directed Google to not offer any incentives to smartphone makers for exclusively carrying its search services. It has also asked the company to allow users to choose their default search engine at all search entry points, especially during the initial device setup. Additionally, it has also asked the internet company to desist from unfair business practices.
Nikhil Pahwa, founder MediaNama Tweeted, “Also, what next? I'm expecting Google to go to court to challenge this order. It's not about the penalty. It's about the restrictions that are being placed on its biz model. And in response, I'm expecting India to consider a law to regulate platforms for openness and neutrality.”
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While Google has not responded to media comments, several reports had also raised red flags in the past on alleged unfair business practices by Google. Through this penalty, the company now has to also allow the developers of other app stores to distribute their app stores through Play Store.
The official press release from CCI reads, “The Commission opined that the markets should be allowed to compete on merits and the onus is on the dominant players (in the present case, Google) that its conduct does not impinge this competition on merits. By virtue of the agreements discussed above, Google ensured that users continue to use its search services on mobile devices which facilitated un-interrupted growth of advertisement revenue for Google.”
For the unversed, in April 2019, CCI ordered a detailed probe in the matter after several complaints were received from people using Android-based smartphones. The allegations related to unfair business practices were then centred around two agreements – the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) and Anti Fragmentation Agreement (AFA). Besides all this, CCI has also asked Google to modify its conduct within a stipulated timeline.
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