Google faces its fourth antitrust case in India

Last updated on February 17th, 2023 at 12:56 pm

Tech giant Google comes under severe scrutiny after an antitrust case has been filed by two lawyers in India and as per the sources, the complaint was regarding Google’s abuse of Android Operating System’s position in the smart television market.

This is the fourth time that Alphabet Inc’s Google has faced an antitrust challenge in India, one of its biggest markets. The last few months have been difficult for Google in India as it has faced constant criticism by the Indian public for enforcing certain policies and schemes that have either stopped or slowed the growth of local startups in the country.

Google has already faced an antitrust case in the United States and a serious investigation in China is going on as the tech giant has been accused of using its Android Operating System to alter the preferences of other smartphones. Even as these allegations begin to pour on the company, Google has maintained that it has not done any wrong doing.

An organisation in India has observed that Google notoriously creates troubles and barriers for other companies who want to create more advanced versions of androids for their Smart TV’s. The Competition Commission of India has revealed that they have been looking into the matter since June this year over Google engaging in activities that are in-competitive in nature.

The recent case has been filed by two antitrust lawyers of India, Kshitiz Arya and Purushottam Anand, who have denied revealing details about the case. They have only confirmed filing cases against Google over alleged abuse of Smart Television.

The CCI, on the other hand, has demanded Google to submit a written response and asked more time for it to investigate the matter. Whatever the CCI finds in its investigation, stays inside the box till special requests are made. These investigations are not open to the public. There is a huge demand for Smart Tv’s or WIFI-enabled TV’s in India and especially the youth, is drawn to such technologies due to built-in apps like Netflix and YouTube.

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