Competition Commission of India

Competition Commission of India

Context:

  • The Competition Commission of India has stated that Google’s various agreements with manufacturers, one of its major revenue-earning apps, Youtube, gained a significant edge over competitors in the online video hosting platforms market.
  • The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of ₹1,337.76 on Google for violating the principles of competition.

About:

  • The Competition Act of 2002 gives the CCI, the power to act as a watchdog with respect to competition and the authority to investigate whether businesses, particularly big tech corporations, are not stifling healthy competition in the market and establishing a monopoly.
  • The current CCI inquiry against Google was initiated in 2019, and since then, the regulator has looked into a number of the internet giant’s actions in relation to pertinent markets.
  • The Android operating system which is acquired by google is the most dominant OS in the market.
  • All smartphones require an operating system (OS) to execute programmes and applications, and one of the most popular OSs is Android, which Google acquired in 2005. In India, there are 600 million cellphones, and 97% of them run Google’s Android operating system, according to Counterpoint data.

Issues:

  • On the mobile phones, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or smartphone manufacturers employ this OS and Google apps.
  • Although the core functions of a smartphone are covered by the publically accessible Android source code, Google’s exclusive applications are not included.
  • Manufacturers must sign contracts with Google that outline their rights and obligations before they may utilise these applications, such as the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA), the Anti-Fragmentation Agreement (AFA), etc.
  • The CCI ruled that Google ensures that the makers who wanted to utilise Google apps had to use Google’s version of Android through these contractual constraints.

            Source The Hindu