Even as Google faces antitrust challenges in the United States, a new antitrust probe could be initiated in India regarding a possible abuse of its position as the dominant operating system-maker in the smart TV market, Reuters reported.
Citing a source and two lawyers involved in the case, Reuters said Google faces an antitrust case after being accused of abusing its Android operating system’s position in the smart TV market. As per the report, the Competition Commission of India has since June been looking into allegations that Google creates barriers for firms wanting to use or develop modified versions of Android for smart TVs.
"The case has been filed by two Indian antitrust lawyers, Kshitiz Arya and Purushottam Anand. They both confirmed the case filing against Google for alleged abuse in the smart television market, but declined to comment further," the report says.
The CCI has reportedly directed Google to submit a written response to the allegations, with Google seeking more time for the same.
This would be Google’s fourth anti-trust challenge in India, after investigations into its payments app in May, into its dominance of smartphone operating systems last year and over an alleged “search bias” in 2018—for which the CCI fined it $21 million (which Google has appealed)
Google’s Android operating system enjoys unparalleled dominance of the smartphone OS ecosystem. But legal challenges have started to grow for Google over this.
In the US, Google faces a growing antitrust probe by the Justice Department, with Congress calling for reforms to limit the powers of the tech giant as well as its peers in so-called FAANG grouping—Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
“To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” a recently-released report by a House Judiciary subcommittee said.
“Although these firms have delivered clear benefits to society, the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has come at a price. These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it — a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others while they play by another, or to engage in a form of their own private quasi regulation that is unaccountable to anyone but themselves.”
Google responded to the report saying its free products help millions of Americans, and that “Americans simply don’t want Congress to break Google’s products or harm the free services they use every day.”
