Japan Tells Google to Stop Anticompetitive Practices in Smartphone Market
(MENAFN) Japan’s antitrust authority issued a directive on Tuesday, instructing Google to cease what it described as “unfairly pressuring” mobile phone producers into including its popular search application by default, as reported by a Japanese news agency.
The move targets Google's dominant position in the internet search industry.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission determined that Google had breached competition regulations, significantly damaging fair market rivalry.
The agency found that Google's actions violated antitrust laws by restricting competitive opportunities for other players in the digital space.
This announcement represents the first time the Japanese competition regulator has taken such enforcement action against Google.
The decision underscores growing concerns over the tech giant's influence in the smartphone ecosystem.
Starting as early as July 2020, Google reportedly required six phone manufacturers that use the Android platform to preload Google software, including the Chrome web browser.
The commission revealed that these contracts covered a minimum of 80 percent of Android-based handsets sold within the country.
Additionally, Google was found to have signed deals with four hardware companies and a single mobile network provider.
In these arrangements, Google offered a portion of its advertising earnings in return for the companies’ agreement not to preinstall software from competing firms.
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