Japan’s competition watchdog issued a cease and desist order to Google on Tuesday for anticompetitive practices, in the first action of its kind against a U.S. tech company in the country.
“Google’s conduct in this case has created a risk of impeding fair competition concerning transactions—thus, we have determined that this is an act in violation of the Antimonopoly Act.”
The watchdog found Google had reached agreements with at least six smartphone makers to preinstall its search service and Chrome internet browser on their phones.
According to the commission, at least 80 percent of Android devices sold in Japan were made by companies that had contracts with the Silicon Valley behemoth.
Google also had arrangements with four manufacturers and one telecom company to share advertising revenue if they agreed not to offer competing search services on their devices, the commission said.
The ruling follows an investigation that began in October 2023.
In the decision, the commission said, “Since July 2020 at the latest, Google LLC has been preventing search functionality of other general search service providers from being implemented on specified Android smartphones.”
It said that Google had done this via mobile application distribution agreements that required companies to “preinstall Google Search and place its widget and icon (including a folder storing the icon) on the Default Home Screen.”
In addition, the companies were “not to change the setting of Google Chrome in which Google LLC’s Search Functionality is selected,” it said.
The commission has instructed Google to stop violating Japan’s anti-monopoly law, barred it from asking manufacturers to preinstall its apps, and ordered the company to prepare guidelines for compliance with the law.
Failure to do so will result in a fine.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Google said: “We regret the findings of the investigation.
“We believe our agreements with Japanese partners have provided consumers with more choices by promoting competition and encouraging each company to invest in product innovation.
“We will carefully review this order and consider our next response.”
News of Japan’s legal action against Google comes as the latest in a wave of nations across the globe taking Silicon Valley’s biggest beasts to task.
The bureau has alleged that Google’s abuse of its dominant position is discouraging competition, inhibiting innovation, inflating advertising costs, and reducing publisher revenues.
It says its investigation, which dates back to at least 2021, found the company “unlawfully” tied together its ad tech tools to ensure market dominance.
Competition regulators in the UK have also accused Google of abusing its dominance in ad tech.
In the United States, a federal antitrust trial began in September last year after the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the company held a monopoly in the nation’s “ad tech” industry.
