NEW DELHI: Google has leveled scathing accusations against India’s antitrust body, alleging that its recent demands to modify Google’s business model were driven solely by a desire to safeguard rival Amazon.
The legal documents unveiled by Google reveal that Amazon had lamented its struggle in developing a modified Android system version due to the restrictive measures imposed by Google. Subsequently, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) issued an October order requiring Google to implement ten changes to its business model, citing abuse of its dominant position in the market through its Android operating system, which currently powers a staggering 97% of smartphones in India.
With its most recent filing to the Supreme Court of India, Google underscores its deepening disagreement with the CCI’s handling of the Android investigation. In a prior filing to a lower tribunal in December, Google accused CCI officers of haphazardly incorporating portions of a European ruling against the American tech giant in a similar case, a claim that the CCI promptly refuted.
Fine on Google
The CCI’s October order not only imposed a fine of $163 million on Google but also demanded that the company facilitate the liberal distribution of modified versions of its Android operating system, known as Android forks, without any licensing restrictions related to pre-installing Google apps.
During the investigation, Amazon informed the CCI that Google’s restrictions had hindered its Android fork’s development, Fire OS. Google argues that the CCI unjustly relied on this information when passing its unfavourable verdict against the tech giant.
In its Supreme Court filing on June 26, Google disclosed, although not publicly, that the CCI called Amazon’s lack of effort to compete in India a failure and attributed it to Google’s agreements. Google defended itself by highlighting the commercial failure of Amazon’s FireOS on a global scale, citing poor user experience. Furthermore, Google emphasized that the Fire Phone had not even been launched in India.
It is Google’s contention that the CCI’s directive was formulated “only to protect Amazon,” as the latter had complained about the impending nature of Google’s restrictions on their attempts to create a forked version of Android.
Of significant concern to Google is the impact of India’s Android decision, as the directives appear to be more far-reaching than those set forth by the European Commission in its landmark 2018 ruling against the tech company for market abuse in relation to Android. Notably, South Korea also levied a fine of $159 million against Google in 2021 for impeding the customization of Android versions.
