According to recent reports, Indian antitrust regulator has commenced the investigation of Google’s activities on its Play Store. It is investigating Google for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Play Store. There are claims that it promotes its payment services which kill any hope of competition. The Indian regulatory agency, Competition Commission of India (CCI), announced on Monday that it has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. According to the commission, it will review whether Android manufacturers actively promote Google Pay during the Android smartphone setup period. It will also check if the mobile phone supplier has the option to refuse.
The commission believes that the Play Store’s billing system is designed to be “bad for applications and users that facilitate payments through UPI”. Google Play Store’s billing system is obviously not the only issue here. High commissions for in-app purchases which must be through Google Pay services is also under scrutiny.
Apple’s behavior in Europe is similar to Google’s behavior in India, such as the mandatory requirements for listing on the Apple Store. Google requires application developers to exclusively use the Google Play store’s payment system and Google Play in-app settlement. In addition, like Apple, Google charges 30% commissions to app developers (using the Play Store payment system and Google Play in-app billing), and the Indian regulator instructs its officers to complete the investigation within 60 days. Google has previously been subject to similar antitrust investigations in Europe and the United States.
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The E.U. also wants to reduce Google’s monopoly
Google is now fighting the same battle on multiple fronts. The E.U has been investigating the company over similar issues as in India. In fact, it is even drafting the “Digital Services Act” which should checkmate these excesses and more.
Google said in response that the new regulations should take into account that the requirements of individuals and companies on technology companies are increasing, rather than decreasing. Karan Bhatia, the company’s vice president of global government affairs and public policy, said: “As we have clearly stated in our public and private communications, we are concerned that certain proposals in the bill will affect global technology companies. It is difficult to meet the increasing demands of European users and enterprises”.
The document recommends that Google’s US “allies” increase their resistance to Breton. They will contact the US government and embassy over this issue. For Google, the new regulations will threaten relations across the Atlantic. In addition, the document also proposes to take advantage of the potential concerns of the European Commission’s competition department. It is claiming that the “Digital Services Act” will threaten the authority of the department.
Another part of Google’s strategy is to clarify the costs that consumers and businesses need to bear. At the same time, the 18-page document also proposes to recruit EU countries and European online companies as “allies”.
For the European Union, a couple of companies like Google have too much power on the market. According to a recent investigation, the company has an absolute monopoly over the search engine market. The EU believes that it is wrong to own a market and also own a shop in the same market. Such a company will have an unfair advantage over its competitors.
