The European Commission has imposed a fine of $5.05 Billion for violating EU antitrust rules stating that Google has imposed illegal restrictions on Android Device manufacturers to install Google Search app and the Chrome Browser which are part of allowing the device from Google Play Store. The company has also violated the EU antitrust law by paying large manufacturers and mobile networks to install Google Search and Chrome in their devices.
Google practices have conflicted with EU rules and regulations by preventing the custom ROM designers to install GApps suite if it is not approved by the company. DuckDuckGo is one of the search engines that is currently aiming to provide better search results by also keeping the privacy of the users in mind has tweeted:
“We welcome the EU breaking down on Google’s anti-competitive search behaviour. We have felt its effects first hand for many years and has led directly to us holding less market share on Android vs iOS and in general mobile vs desktop.”
The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai unsurprisingly has disputed EU’s decision telling that Android has created more choice for everyone not less. However competitors may argue that Google’s dominance in search has denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits.
The tying practices guaranteed the pre-installation of Google’s search engine and browser on vast majority of Google Android devices and the exclusivity payments strongly reduced the influence to pre-install competing for search engines. Google also stopped the development of Android forks, which could have presented a platform for rival search engines to gain traffic. Google’s strategy has also stopped rival search engines from collecting more data from smart mobile devices, including exploration and mobile location data, which helped Google to cement its dominance as a search engine.
Google plan to appeal the decision.
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