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India antitrust probe finds Google abused Android dominance, report shows

132 points by stereoradonc 5y ago

anderson1993 5y ago
India has never succeeded in developing any worldwide app
- mynameismon 5y ago
  Your point being? And how does that relate with this?
- Xplune13 5y ago
  At the level of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter? No, it hasn't. But there are apps like Paytm, Ola Cabs which work in few other countries than India (It's fine if you haven't heard of these apps, because AFAIK they aren't in the US, or most of Western Europe for that matter. But some apps did get big enough to be implemented in other countries). Also if we're going by that then there are hardly 5 countries out of 195 whose apps are used worldwide.
  - kumarharsh 5y ago
    Some more notable ones: HackerRank, Zoho, Freshworks, Postman, BrowserStack, VWO, WebEngage, Zomato, Byjus, etc.
moory2000 5y ago
And what can you do about it
js4ever 5y ago
This seems to pop all around the world, regulation is needed when companies act like this
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
bob229 5y ago
And in other breaks news rain is wet
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
Is the Competition Commission of India (CCI) politically independent?
- smoldesu 5y ago
  I just clicked around online, but it appears that they've been targeting Google for a while now, seemingly after they refused to comply with surveillance requests from the rest of the government: > In 2014, CCI imposed a fine of ₹10 million upon Google for failure to comply with the directions given by the Director General seeking information and documents. [0] 4 years later they sued them for some unexplained "search bias" and then 3 years after that, they're back for some sort of market-dependent anti-trust case. I think there's plenty of skeletons in Google's closet, but this is not one of them. If I had to guess, this is the reaction of a frustrated conservative regime discovering that "big tech" doesn't really kowtow to any and all government requests. Following the pushback from the farmer's protest censorship, I'd imagine they're pretty pissed at Google, Facebook and Twitter. [0] https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=104701 https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=104701
  - sinyug 5y ago
    > frustrated conservative regime On 27th March 2014 (the date of the press release you linked to), the Congress-led UPA was in power. I know Hinduphobia is very fashionable within the "smart" set, but they should spend some time meditating on their biases before constructing arguments that have no basis in fact.
    - malshe 5y ago
      Also note how they drop the farmers’ protests without any context. “Modi is punishing Google because people are searching for the protests”
      - smoldesu 5y ago
        Indeed, truly an evil conflation to make when the Indian government threatened to jail domestic Twitter and Facebook employees.
achow 5y ago
Oct 2020 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been looking into allegations that Google creates barriers for firms wanting to use or develop modified versions of Android for smart TVs, such as Amazon Fire TV’s operating system. “...I reckon that some aggrieved TV manufacturers, who cannot break out from the Google dominance, could be behind this case” Google’s agreements with companies such as Xiaomi and TCL India effectively stop them from using both the Android system and a modified version of it on different devices they make. For example, if a company sells smartphones based on Android, it cannot sell smart TVs running on competing platforms, such the Amazon Fire TV system. And if a company’s smart TV is using the Amazon OS, then it is restricted from offering Google’s popular Play Store or the Google Maps app on its smartphones. https://www.asiafinancial.com/powerful-forces-behind-new-google-antitrust-case-in-india https://www.asiafinancial.com/powerful-forces-behind-new-goo...
- wongarsu 5y ago
  Using dominance in the smartphone market to take over the smart TV business sounds like a slam dunk antitrust case (and a lot like copying Microsoft's playbook from the 90s)
habibur 5y ago
The the thing is -- every country now can find problems with US big techs inside their borders and can earn some revenue by fining them millions for one reason or another. Interested in watching where that leads.
- yunohn 5y ago
  > every country now can find problems with US big tech's inside their borders Big Tech intentionally expands into global markets for profit - it’s their responsibility to abide by the rules setup in each market. If they exhibit harmful behavior in every market, they will be investigated and fined in every market. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
- karmasimida 5y ago
  Guess that is the consequences for tax evasion.
abacadaba 5y ago
Is there a purpose to Android other than to abuse it's dominance?
known 5y ago
CCI is protecting the interests of Ambani's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jio

132 points by stereoradonc 5y ago

anderson1993 5y ago

India has never succeeded in developing any worldwide app

mynameismon 5y ago
Your point being? And how does that relate with this?
Xplune13 5y ago
At the level of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter? No, it hasn't. But there are apps like Paytm, Ola Cabs which work in few other countries than India (It's fine if you haven't heard of these apps, because AFAIK they aren't in the US, or most of Western Europe for that matter. But some apps did get big enough to be implemented in other countries). Also if we're going by that then there are hardly 5 countries out of 195 whose apps are used worldwide.
- kumarharsh 5y ago
  Some more notable ones: HackerRank, Zoho, Freshworks, Postman, BrowserStack, VWO, WebEngage, Zomato, Byjus, etc.

moory2000 5y ago

And what can you do about it

js4ever 5y ago

This seems to pop all around the world, regulation is needed when companies act like this

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bob229 5y ago

And in other breaks news rain is wet

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

Is the Competition Commission of India (CCI) politically independent?

smoldesu 5y ago
I just clicked around online, but it appears that they've been targeting Google for a while now, seemingly after they refused to comply with surveillance requests from the rest of the government: > In 2014, CCI imposed a fine of ₹10 million upon Google for failure to comply with the directions given by the Director General seeking information and documents. [0] 4 years later they sued them for some unexplained "search bias" and then 3 years after that, they're back for some sort of market-dependent anti-trust case. I think there's plenty of skeletons in Google's closet, but this is not one of them. If I had to guess, this is the reaction of a frustrated conservative regime discovering that "big tech" doesn't really kowtow to any and all government requests. Following the pushback from the farmer's protest censorship, I'd imagine they're pretty pissed at Google, Facebook and Twitter. [0] https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=104701 https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=104701
- sinyug 5y ago
  > frustrated conservative regime On 27th March 2014 (the date of the press release you linked to), the Congress-led UPA was in power. I know Hinduphobia is very fashionable within the "smart" set, but they should spend some time meditating on their biases before constructing arguments that have no basis in fact.
  - malshe 5y ago
    Also note how they drop the farmers’ protests without any context. “Modi is punishing Google because people are searching for the protests”
    - smoldesu 5y ago
      Indeed, truly an evil conflation to make when the Indian government threatened to jail domestic Twitter and Facebook employees.

achow 5y ago

Oct 2020 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been looking into allegations that Google creates barriers for firms wanting to use or develop modified versions of Android for smart TVs, such as Amazon Fire TV’s operating system. “...I reckon that some aggrieved TV manufacturers, who cannot break out from the Google dominance, could be behind this case” Google’s agreements with companies such as Xiaomi and TCL India effectively stop them from using both the Android system and a modified version of it on different devices they make. For example, if a company sells smartphones based on Android, it cannot sell smart TVs running on competing platforms, such the Amazon Fire TV system. And if a company’s smart TV is using the Amazon OS, then it is restricted from offering Google’s popular Play Store or the Google Maps app on its smartphones. https://www.asiafinancial.com/powerful-forces-behind-new-google-antitrust-case-in-india https://www.asiafinancial.com/powerful-forces-behind-new-goo...

wongarsu 5y ago
Using dominance in the smartphone market to take over the smart TV business sounds like a slam dunk antitrust case (and a lot like copying Microsoft's playbook from the 90s)

habibur 5y ago

The the thing is -- every country now can find problems with US big techs inside their borders and can earn some revenue by fining them millions for one reason or another. Interested in watching where that leads.

yunohn 5y ago
> every country now can find problems with US big tech's inside their borders Big Tech intentionally expands into global markets for profit - it’s their responsibility to abide by the rules setup in each market. If they exhibit harmful behavior in every market, they will be investigated and fined in every market. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
karmasimida 5y ago
Guess that is the consequences for tax evasion.

abacadaba 5y ago

Is there a purpose to Android other than to abuse it's dominance?

known 5y ago

CCI is protecting the interests of Ambani's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jio