New Delhi: The giant tech company Google (Google) has suffered a major setback. In fact, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of Rs 1,337.76 crore on the tech company for anti-competitive practices related to Android mobile devices.
CCI has given this information through its official Twitter account. The tweet reads that “Google has been fined for abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem in multiple markets.”
CCI instructed to fix the work
CCI has directed Google to stop and stop unfair trade practices. The commission said in official information on Thursday that Google has also been directed to modify its functioning within a stipulated time frame.
The inquiry was ordered in April 2019
The CCI had ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter in April 2019 following complaints from consumers of Android-based smartphones in the country. Google was accused of engaging in wrongful business practices in two agreements namely the Application Distribution Agreement (MDA) and the Anti-Fragmentation Agreement (AFA).
CCI investigated
A statement issued by CCI said that smart mobile devices require an operating system (OS) to run applications and programs. Android is a mobile operating system that was acquired by Google in 2005. The commission has examined Google’s various practices in licensing the Android mobile operating system and various Google proprietary mobile applications (such as Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube, etc.).
The CCI said that compulsorily pre-installing the Google Mobile Suite (GMS) under MADA amounts to imposing an unfair position on the device manufacturers. In this way, it violates the competition law.
