Google faces CCI inquiry for alleged non-compliance with Play Store billing order
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday ordered a probe into Google’s alleged negligence in relation to the CCI order related to Play Store’s user selection billing practice.
The order was in response to the Alliance of Digital India Foundation’s (ADIF) notice to India’s market regulator Google for not following CCI guidelines and implementing UCB, which is “unfair, irrational and discriminatory”.
The CCI had penalized Google for the improper practices and directed the company to take certain corrective measures in the matter.
In October, the CCI imposed a fine of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in terms of Play Store policies.
ADIF contacted the CCI about Google’s non-compliance, and in response, the CCI “has not only stated that Google’s compliance needs to be investigated” and has also called on “Google to provide a detailed response to a set of queries mentioned in the order, including information on its processes and internal policies for sharing data, to the provisions on data control, to UCB’s policy.”
The technology giant has been given 4 weeks to respond to the queries.
In January, Google made several changes to its Play Store practices and introduced user-choice billing as reforms in line with the CCI directives.
However, according to ADIF, the changes were not in accordance with the regulation.
ADIF’s spokesperson had criticized the changes, calling them “irrational, unfair and discriminatory”.
ADIF also argued that the changes are not beneficial in any way and will only harm the startup ecosystem in the long run.
In another Android case, Google has paid the entire penalty amount of Rs 1,337.76 crore imposed by the CCI.
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