The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday strongly defended its October 2022 order against Google and reiterated that the tech giant’s practices in India are a “perfect case of abuse of dominance”.
Starting its submissions before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the antitrust regulator also pointed out that the company had complied with the European Commission’s directions after it was fined for breaching antitrust rules.
Mincing no words, N Venkatraman, counsel for the regulator, and Additional Solicitor General of India, asked whether the law has to be the “CCI law” or “Google CCI law”.
“Google has created an ecosystem by a web of agreements to meet the sole objective of preserving its advertising revenues,” Venkatraman noted, while pointing out that the tech giant made over `15 trillion in advertising revenues. The end users or customers are the “guinea pigs” as they are a source of revenue generation, he said, adding that nothing is free for them.
The CCI, in its order dated October 20, 2022, had imposed a `1,337-crore monetary penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies, apart from issuing a cease-and-desist order.
In its public statements and arguments before the Supreme Court, and NCLAT, Google had contended that complying with the CCI’s order would inflate the costs for app developers in the country, increase the prices of Android phones in the country and lead to user exclusion. It also cited that the Android Operating System (OS) has propelled the mobile market in India, and alleged that theb CCI relied on statements of the European anti-trust regulator and passed it off as its own.
However, presenting his arguments before the bench comprising chairperson Ashok Bhushan and member (technical) Alok Srivastava, Venkatraman said Google’s practices amounted to “digital feudalism, digital slavery, technological capitalism and choke point capitalism,” under which every access is blocked and funnelled through Google search engine.
Venkatraman is expected to resume submissions on behalf of the CCI on March 13. Google’s counsel Maninder Singh is likely to make submissions on Friday (March 3). Earlier on Wednesday, Arun Kathpalia, another Google’s counsel had wrapped up submissions.
Following the CCI order, Google had filed a plea with NCLAT, which had declined to give an interim stay. The tech giant then approached the Supreme Court, which had also declined to stay the CCI order but had directed the NCLAT to decide on Google’s appeal by March 31.