The Competition Commission of India, abbreviated as CCI, imposed a huge fine of Rs 1,338 crore on American technology giant Google on October 20. The reason for the fine was that it violated the Competition Act of the country. The CCI found that Google had abused its dominance over the Android mobile operating system in various ways.
The Print reports that studies conducted by three young adults led to this discovery. According to the report, twenty-seven-year-old Umar Javeed, Sukarma Thapar, and twenty-four-year-old Umar’s younger brother Aqib have conducted the study and are studying the digital economy.
CCI is a commission that works to ensure healthy competition between companies in the country. The CCI was formed on the basis that certain companies attaining a certain degree of dominance in the market would eliminate healthy competition and this would not be good for the consumers and the country.
∙ Fines imposed on by Google
The third fine of Rs 936 crore was imposed on October 25, 2022 against Google’s dominance in the Play Store. However, in the order imposing a second fine of Rs 1,338 crore that caught all the attention, the CCI said it should not pressure Android device makers to pre-install Google’s apps. It also suggested that users be allowed to uninstall pre-installed apps.
∙ The three young men
Aquib, who was then a law student at the University of Kashmir, helped submit the information.
Individuals cannot file a complaint with the CCI under the Competition Act of India. Sukarma says that information can be provided instead. After examining the information provided by the trio, the CCI started an investigation into this in April 2019. An investigation into Google’s activities in the Android mobile sector has begun. This resulted in a fine of Rs 1,338 crore.
∙ Aquib’s reply to a question about the hard work was done to find evidence
Why Acquib says he studied what policies and laws were in place to govern the technology sector and how these affected users and companies. The case of the European Union fined Google had attracted the attention of the trio.
EU Fines
The European Commission fined Google $4.34 billion in 2018 for violating EU antitrust laws. Research into the causes that led to this led to a greater awareness of how digital markets work on a global scale. Learned about its performance in India, one of the largest markets for Android OS. Umar says that the company was found to be doing all the things that the EU fined Google for in India.
This research provided the trio with more information about the situation in India. So they submitted the research data to CCI. Information about the work done by Sukarma and Umar at CCI is private. They are not related to Android market in India. They say that the information they gave CCI about Google was discovered through their own research.
They say that collecting detailed information against the company was not easy and they spent two months for it. Sukarma said that after working during the day, he started researching in the evenings. He worked late at night and early in the morning. Some days he worked without even sleeping.
Sukarma says that hard to work for along Information was to be gathered to support the allegations. While there is a possibility that Google may be abusing its dominance in Android, the data to prove it is important. However, they only got publicly available information. Umar says this has made it difficult to gather evidence.
Let’s say you take an Android phone and it has apps that the user cannot uninstall. But what should have been learned was how this is troubling Android phone makers and app developers. Sukarma says that therefore the collection of information within the companies has been left to the CCI. Sukarma also observed that the CCI deserves kudos for collecting evidence so quickly.
∙ Now what?
Now Umar works in a public sector organization, Sukarma as an independent consultant and Aquib as a lawyer in Delhi. Umar says that as a result of their work, Android users will get a better software environment. This will benefit Android device manufacturers and app developers. CCI’s ruling could lead to more innovation in the digital market. Google has 60 days to file an appeal against the verdict before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. 10 percent of the fine has to be paid for this.