Tech giant Google is under fire as several authorities across the world seek to dethrone its monopoly rule. Recently, it suffered a major setback after a European Union(EU) court upheld the EU’s antitrust fine of $4.12 billion.
Google was fined for allegedly putting in place strategic restrictions on Android phone makers to ensure that its own search engine benefited alone.
Indian authorities are also ramping up their probe against Google with Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT( MEITY), spearheading the country’s role and response in the global antitrust drive.
The Indian government’s antitrust watchdog, Competition Committee of India (CCI), is also proceeding on a petition against Google filed by the DNPA (Digital News Publishers Association). The DNPA is seeking a fair share in the distribution of advertisement revenue earned by Google on its digital platforms of news publishers.
Leading media organisations under DNPA have come together to call upon big tech giants such as Google to be fair in their relationship with domestic news providers and make revenue-sharing more transparent.
A parliamentary committee has also been deliberating on various issues concerning the big tech monopolies.
oogle is likely to face multiple lawsuits in the US. The US Department of Justice approached a federal judge accusing Google of monopolistic behaviour. If the case goes to trial and Google is held guilty, big telecom companies could lose out on massive earnings.
This comes after recent disclosures showed that Google allegedly pays Samsung, Apple, and other telecom giants billions of dollars to ensure the sole domination of its search engine.
Meanwhile, a group of 13 influential companies called upon the US Congress to green-light a proposed bill that could considerably shrink the powers of Google and other tech stalwarts.
The White House also joined the initiative against big tech platforms and rolled out six principles aimed at reforming them. One of those principles listed by US President Joe Biden’s administration is to drop the special protection and immunity that social media firms enjoy with regard to the platforms’ handling of misinformation.
Additionally, lawmakers in South Korea also slapped combined fines of $71 million on Alphabet and Meta for alleged privacy violations. Probes showed Google was collecting and studying user data, and tracking their website use.
