Indian commission fines Google €165 million for abuse of power

By admin On Oct 21, 2022

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Google has been fined €165 million by the Indian competition authority. The reason for this is that, according to the Competition Commission of India, Google is abusing its power by requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google apps on devices.

The amount counts in Indian rupees 13,377.6 million. The Indian Commission started investigating Google 3.5 years ago because the tech giant requires phone manufacturers to pre-install the entire Google Mobile Suite on devices. This includes apps such as Gmail and YouTube. These apps from Google should also be given a prominent place. This together, according to the CCI, amounts to ‘imposing unfair terms on device manufacturers’, which is against the law.

The CCI had come to this conclusion before, but now it also imposes a fine on Google. In addition, the regulator wants to prohibit Google from demanding a ‘bouquet’ of pre-installed apps on new devices. According to the CCI, companies should be able to make their own choices.

The CCI further states that Google is using its “dominant position” to eliminate competitors in search, app stores, browsers and video services. The tech giant does this, for example, by prominently placing the pre-installed apps, such as YouTube and Chrome, on the home screen. For example, alternatives such as Firefox and Vimeo are not included by default with new devices.

In India, Google’s Android operating system according to research agency Statcounter is used on more than 95 percent of the devices in the country. India had 1.38 billion inhabitants in 2020 and about 600 million of them are smartphone users.

Previously, Google was also fined in other countries for its abuse of power around Android. Google has to pay a fine of more than 4 billion euros from the European Commission. An Italian market watchdog fined Google for banning certain apps from the Google Play Store that competed with Google’s own apps. In addition, Google has been sued in the US for its dominance in search engines.