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Japanese authorities announced Tuesday that they have issued a cease-and-desist order to US tech giant Google over an alleged violation of national antitrust laws. The order, the first of its kind issued to a global technology giant by Japan, follows similar actions taken in Europe and the United States, according to Japanese media reports.
"We have concluded that Google LLC's conduct threatens to impede fair competition," Saiko Nakajima of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) told reporters on Tuesday. The problem is "related to the implementation of search functions for Android smartphones, in violation of the antitrust law", she said.
The JFTC accuses Google of imposing binding conditions on Android smartphone manufacturers in Japan since at least July 2020. Specifically, it says Google made sure its online app store Google Play would be installed as part of a package with its web-browser search app Chrome.
Google Play is so widely used that without it, "Android devices are basically unsellable", a government source said in December.
No financial penalties were announced Tuesday, but Nakajima said the order would increase the options available to smartphone makers. "This will encourage competition and benefit" society, she said.
Google Japan said it was "disappointed" by the JFTC's findings. "(Our) agreements with Japanese partners help to promote competition and have undeniably boosted their ability to invest in product innovations which deliver more choice for consumers," it said in a statement. "We will review the order thoroughly to determine our next steps." The US government asked a judge in November to order the dismantling of Google by selling its widely used Chrome browser, in a major antitrust crackdown on the company.
And the European Commission said in 2023 that Google should sell parts of its business and could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its global revenue if it fails to comply.
