CCI opens inquiry against Google for non-compliance with directions in Play Store case

The CCI in October had imposed a penalty of Rs.936.44 cr on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies

PGurus Newsdesk

May 13, 2023

The CCI in October had imposed a penalty of Rs.936.44 cr on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies

Google in CCI net again: Competition watchdog begins probe into new billing policy

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an inquiry into the alleged non-compliance by Google related to the CCI order regarding the Play Store user choice billing policy.

The tech giant has been provided with 4 weeks to provide its responses to the queries.

The order was in response to the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) submission with the Indian market regulator on Google not complying with the CCI directions and introducing user choice billing (UCB) which is “unfair, irrational and discriminatory”.

The CCI penalized Google for indulging in unfair practices and directed the company to follow certain corrective measures regarding the same. The CCI in October had imposed a penalty of Rs.936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.

The ADIF reached out to the CCI over the non-compliance by Google and in response, the CCI “has not only stated that an enquiry needs to be made against the compliance by Google” but has also directed “Google to file a detailed response to a set of queries mentioned in the order, including information on its processes and internal policies regarding data sharing, data-steering provisions, UCB policy”.

Google in January introduced various changes in its Play Store policies and introduced user choice billing as reforms in compliance with the directives of CCI.

The changes, however, were not compliant with the order, according to the ADIF.

The ADIF’s spokesperson had slammed the changes and termed them “irrational, unfair and discriminatory” in nature. ADIF also maintained that the changes will not be beneficial in any manner and will only hurt the startup ecosystem in the long run.

In another Android case, Google has paid the entire penalty amount of Rs.1,337.76 crore imposed by the CCI.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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