Google Said to Be Planning to Challenge India’s Antitrust Crackdown

Google seems to have no desire of being the sitting duck against India’s antitrust crackdown. The American multinational technology company is planning to legally challenge and block the ruling of not one but two monetary penalties imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Google is concerned that the recent CCI rulings will act as a restriction on how the company promotes its platforms. A source close to Google and with minute knowledge of the complete situation revealed to the international media.

In just one week, India’s antitrust watchdog imposed two fines of a total worth $275 million on the  Alphabet Inc unit. The first monetary penalty imposed on Google was for abusing its position in the market for the Android operating system and the second for charging in-app commissions.

Also Read: Google Messages Comes Up with New Feature

The company has been facing intense scrutiny for last few years across the world. The European court last month upheld a ruling set in 2018 saying the company imposed “unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices.”

According to media reports, Google has been concerned since the CCI ruling and is occupied in seeking a range of measures that it can take under the current circumstances.

It is apprehensive about regulatory pressure as a result of these rulings and thus, finds a legal appeal to block them within the constraints of law as the best course of action against CCI. Such legal appeal is being planned for the coming weeks.

However, the tech company is yet to make any official statements.

Also Read: Google Cloud Launches Its Own Node-Hosting Service

The company has been reiterating the same statement they made last week when the CCI ruling was out. It stated that the ruling was “a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses, opening serious security risks … and raising the cost of mobile devices for Indians.”

Meanwhile, Google’s lead counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi tweeted this week that the CCI order has “inherent & patent infirmities,” which makes challenging it in the court of law easy and most likely to succeed.

Over the last few years, the global tech company has been facing tough criticism from governments and industry stakeholders across the world. The company is accused of signing restrictive agreements with smartphone players for lending Android operating system licenses.

These agreements are anti-competitive and hamper the smooth business of other competitive companies.  Google, however, has constantly denied any such allegations and reiterated that Android has given more choices to people and these agreements are only signed so that the company can keep its services free.

The founder of Indian research firm Techarc, Faisal Kawoosa said that “these rulings and constant scrutiny of CCI will surely push Google to get outside in search of some other revenue model.  The CCI directions strike at the heart of Google’s revenue model for Android – which relies on a volume game where larger the user base is, multiple the avenues to monetize,” Kawoosa said.

The CCI in its order, a source noted, has been placing further restrictions on various Google apps such as “Licensing of Play Store … shall not be linked with the requirement of pre-installing” Google search services, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail or any other application of Google.

Also Read: Google Lamda: New Age Chat Tech