Japan’s competition watchdog, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), has initiated an investigation into Google for potential violations of anti-monopoly laws related to the company’s practices in web search services. The investigation is focused on ensuring fair competition in the market. The JFTC is examining allegations that Google required Android smartphone manufacturers to refrain from installing rival search engines in exchange for a portion of its revenue. Additionally, the watchdog is investigating Google’s practice of mandating Android device manufacturers to pre-install its Google Search, Chrome, and Google Play apps.
The JFTC official stated that there are suspicions that Google’s actions may be undermining competitors’ business activities and restricting the business operations of its partners in the search services market. Such practices might have made it challenging for users to choose their preferred web browser. The official mentioned that the investigation aims to determine whether these conditions artificially created a situation where other search engines had difficulty gaining recognition as a user’s choice, regardless of the quality of their services.
This investigation aligns with similar actions taken by antitrust regulators in the European Union, the United States, and other markets. In the US, Google is facing an antitrust case where the Justice Department alleges that Google paid to become the default search engine on browsers like Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, recently testified in this case, asserting that Google’s unfair practices had led to its dominance in the search market and hindered competition, citing agreements that established it as the default browser on smartphones and computers. He also noted that Apple’s favorable deal with Google made it difficult for Microsoft to secure a similar position and suggested that Apple feared Google might leverage its popular services, such as Gmail and YouTube, to drive users to download the Chrome browser, potentially bypassing Safari entirely.
