Meanwhile, the European Union has recommended Google divest its lucrative digital ad business to address competition concerns
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has reportedly moved Supreme Court, contending a part of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT), which upheld imposing a Rs 1,337 crore fine on Google for misusing its dominant position in the Android market to skew competition in its favour. The judgement, however, set aside four out of its ten directives for Google, directing it to change its business model.
The tribunal favoured Google in some aspects. It held that Google was fair in sending out warnings to users when they download applications directly from the website or elsewhere. The tech giant doesn’t have to share its proprietary Application Program Interface (API) with third parties. Google was justified in its place to disallow third-party app stores to prevent malware. It also upheld that Google could restrict the uninstallation of Google Suite apps on Android phones.
Reports say that CCI has challenged the NCLAT directive, asking the competition watchdog to do an “effect analysis” and test whether the abusive conduct is anti-competitive or not.
NCLAT said that Section 4 specifically excluded discriminatory conditions or prices that may be adopted to meet the competition. The object of the Competition Act is to prevent anti-competitive practices, it upheld.
Meanwhile, Google has also been hit by European Union regulators with fresh antitrust charges, stating that the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its digital ad business is by divesting parts of the business.
The European Union (EU) led by 27 nations has made the big move to crack down on Big Tech, including bringing groundbreaking rules on Artificial Intelligence into effect.
Google countered EU’s recommendation and has said that it will issue an appropriate response. “Our advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content, and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers,” said the Google spokesperson.
