Report: Google might be facing antitrust violations in India

Reuters reported today that India’s antitrust watchdog is investigating Google over alleged antitrust violations. The issue is whether or not Google is using Android’s top position in the market to stymie the competition.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) started looking into the matter sometime last year. The CCI then reportedly decided in April that there was enough evidence against Google to launch a full probe.

Details on the alleged investigation are still slim since the CCI’s order hasn’t yet been made public.

The CCI’s alleged investigation is very similar to one that the European Union conducted last year which resulted in a fine of 4.34 billion euros (~$5 billion) for Google. According to the EU, Google forced OEMs that used the Google Play Store also to include Google products like Search and Chrome by default.

Google plans to appeal the fine, though the company in April announced how it would ask European Android users to choose a default search engine and browser.

The EU also fined Google 1.49 billion euros (~$1.67 billion) in March over “abusive” online advertising practices and 2.42 billion euros (~$2.7 billion) over manipulating shopping search results as it relates to Google Shopping.

There’s even some precedent in India — the CCI fined Google 1.36 billion rupees (~$19.46 million) last year over “search bias.” Google appealed the decision, saying that it could cause the company “irreparable” harm.