Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. It seems that the efforts to take on Google's monopoly is on and in this process, the second largest court of the European Union has imposed an antitrust fine of $ 4.1 billion (about 32,000 crore INR) on Google. Google was found as guilty of using its dominance to eliminate competition. The court held that Google had broken the antitrust law. Google has done this by using its Android smartphone technology and its dominance in that market to strengthen its search engine leadership.
Tough road ahead for Google
Apart from the EU, India too seems to be gearing up against the antitrust and monopoly behavior of the technology firm. This could make the road difficult for Google, as it is losing battle after battle in different parts of the world. In India, several steps are being taken under the leadership of CCI and MEITY in which the antitrust behavior of companies like Google along with Indian News Publishers has been seriously challenged. A parliamentary committee is also looking into the matter.
Google was collecting data
Just before this, lawmakers imposed a combined fine of $ 71 million (about Rs 565 crore) on Alphabet and Meta for privacy violations in South Korea. The investigation revealed that Google was collecting and studying user data, and was monitoring the use of their website. In the past few years, Google and other big tech giants have been under pressure around the world over their monopolistic practices. As per reports, Rajiv Chandrashekhar, Minister of State (MEITY) for Electronics and IT, is leading India's Role and Response in the Global EntryTrust Drive.
CCI also proceeding on a petition
The Competition Committee of India (CCI), an antitrust watchdog under the Government of India, is also proceeding on a petition filed by DNPA (Digital News Publishers Association) against Google. The petition states that Google does not share a fair amount of advertising revenue with news publishers. The petition has sought proper revenue sharing. India's leading media organizations have come together to make the revenue sharing model transparent.
