Google announced today that it had filed a lawsuit against the Indian Antitrust Regulatory Authority Competition Commission of India (CCI) because CCI had previously launched an antitrust investigation against Google, but this confidential investigation The report was leaked.
Several media reports on Saturday said that a CCI investigation found that Google abused its Android operating system’s dominant position in the Indian market and used its strong financial strength to illegally harm competitors. Google responded at the time and said that it looked forward to working with CCI to show how Android can bring more competition and innovation instead of stifling competition and innovation.
Today, Google said in a statement that it has filed a lawsuit against CCI in the Delhi High Court to prevent further illegal disclosure of confidential investigation results. Google said that the company is protesting against this type of confidence-damaging behavior, which undermines Google’s ability to protect itself, and also damages Google and its partners.
Google said in a statement: Throughout the investigation, we fully cooperate and maintain confidentiality; we hope and expect that the regulatory agencies that we contact will also maintain the same level of confidentiality.
In response, CCI has not yet responded to reporters’ requests for comment. A Google spokesperson declined to comment on whether an injunction has been sought to prevent the media from further reporting on the content of the CCI report.
The Indian antitrust regulator launched an investigation into Google in 2019, saying that Google appeared to use its Android dominance to weaken the ability of device manufacturers to choose alternative versions of the operating system and force them to pre-install Google apps.
And last Saturday, a 750-page CCI investigation report was leaked. According to media reports, the report believes that Google makes it difficult for device vendors to use alternative versions of the Android system, and uses its influence to force vendors to pre-install Google applications on their devices.
According to the report, Google’s mandatory pre-installation of apps is equivalent to imposing unfair conditions on device manufacturers, violating India’s competition laws. The report also said that Google used its Play Store application store status to protect Google’s dominant position in India. The Google App Store’s policies are also one-sided and vague, and biased.
