Lately, a lot of countries are cracking down on the anti-competitive practices by most of these major companies. News reaching us today confirms that, the Indian Government has fined Google an amount of One Hundred and Thirteen million Dollars ($113m) for engaging in anti-competitive practice.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has made a statement to confirm this. According to the CCI, Google takes advantage of its position as a dominant company to force developers to strictly use its own app payment system. Meaning you cannot develop an app and accept payments using any third-party payment method.
A spokesperson from Google has responded to to this by saying that the company is reviewing the decision and evaluating the next step. He also said that they will try to appeal the order in an Indian tribunal.
The CCI has also ordered Google to make some operation adjustments in a matter of three months. Such adjustments include allowing app developers to be able to use third-party payment gateways and services in their apps.
Investigation for this case began in the year 2020. That is when the Indian Government decided to look into the way Google operates their payment services.
Gizchina News of the week
What Prompted India To Start Investigating Google
Someone launched an antitrust case against Google in 2020. Claiming that Google only allows app developers to accept payments using the Google Pay Service. As an app developer, you may want to accept payments using a payment service that you are comfortable with. But Google does not allow that. So the Indian government had to step in.
The law firm that is representing the complainant has also reacted positively to the orders from the Indian government. They said it will help in the competition and reduce cost for developers.
India Fined Google Just A Week Ago
This is not the first time Google is being fined in India. Just a week ago, the Indian government fined them an amount of $162 million. This was also for a similar anti-competitive practice. This includes bundling both Google Chrome and the YouTube app with Android. It also included restricting users from uninstalling Google apps like Maps and Gmail.
