The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating tech giant Google to determine whether its mapping app allegedly violated any antitrust provisions, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The first is Google’s Android Automotive in-vehicle infotainment system, and the Justice Department wants to see if bundling YouTube Music, Google Assistant, Play Store and Google Maps together will stifle competition from third-party products.
Second, the DOJ intends to look at the company’s terms of service to see if it involves a monopoly over the use of the Maps API. The tech giant will also require other first-party apps to be bundled with automakers if they want to bring Google Maps to their in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Doing so appears to impede consumer choice and constitute improper competition with third-party apps, the Justice Department argued. Google has done the same with Android phone makers before, but the Justice Department’s attitude differs markedly.
Ars Technica pointed out that the Android smartphone operating system has about 2.5 billion installed technologies, while the in-vehicle system is limited to Volvo, GMC Hummer EV and the upcoming 2023 Ford vehicles.
Another point of concern to the DOJ is how Google Maps’ terms of service ( ToS ) restrict how developers and sites can use data — specifically in Section 3.2.3, where Google states that third-party developers or services “may not duplicate constitute its product or function”.
In other words, third-party navigation applications are not allowed to use the Maps API because it is in direct competition with Google Maps, and developers must pay Google for every call to map data.
TechSpot points out that Google Maps covers dozens of functional APIs, including directions, location details, Street View, and more. For developers, this means that their usage costs will skyrocket. To this end, developers may mix/match APIs from other services (eg TomTom/OpenStreet Map) to reduce associated costs.
However, Google’s overlord clause is — choose all, or provide none at all! This means that even if you only use one API in Google Maps, you won’t be able to use any competing services at the same time.
The investigation is in its initial stages, and if the Justice Department finally finds that Google Maps has a monopoly, the agency will consider filing a lawsuit in this regard.