Tag: monopoly

Google Announces Sweeping Changes for Android Device Makers in India After Supreme Court Upholds CCI Order

Google said on Wednesday it will allow device makers in India to license its individual apps for pre-installation and give an option to users to choose their default search engine, announcing sweeping changes to how its Android system operates.

The move comes after the country’s Supreme Court upheld stringent antitrust directives last week, rejecting a Google challenge against a Competition Commission of India ruling that said the company abused its market position, ordering it to change how it markets its Android system in a key growth market.

“Implementation of these changes across the ecosystem will be a complex process and will require significant work at our end and, in many cases, significant efforts from partners, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers,” Google said in a blog post.

Google had been concerned about India’s decision as the steps are seen as more sweeping than those imposed in the European Commission’s landmark 2018 ruling against Android.

About 97 percent of 600 million smartphones in India run on Android, while in Europe, the system accounts for 75 percent of the 550 million smartphones, according to Counterpoint Research estimates.

The CCI ruled in October that Google, owned by Alphabet, exploited its dominant position in Android and told it to remove restrictions on device makers, including those related to pre-installation of apps and ensuring exclusivity of its search. It also fined Google $161 million (roughly Rs. 1,300 crore).

Hoping to block the implementation of the CCI directives, Google had approached the Supreme Court, warning that growth of its Android ecosystem will stall. It said it would be forced to alter arrangements with more than 1,100 device manufacturers and thousands of app developers if the directives kick in.

But the Supreme Court did not agree to block the directives as Google sought. The court had also said a lower tribunal – where Google first challenged the Android directives – can continue to hear the company’s appeal and must rule by March 31.

“We continue to respectfully appeal certain aspects of the CCI’s decisions,” Google said.

The US search giant also said it is updating the Android compatibility requirements to introduce changes for partners to build non-compatible variants of Android.

In Europe, Google was fined for putting in place what the Commission called unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device makers. Google is still challenging the record $4.3 billion (roughly Rs. 35,100) fine in that case.

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Justice Department antitrust chief wants to ‘unplug’ tech monopolists

The Justice Department’s top antitrust cop said he wants to “unplug” monopolistic Big Tech firms and drove home his support for a stalled congressional bill intended to rein in Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple during a fiery speech on Friday. 

Jonathan Kanter, the Biden-appointed assistant attorney general who leads the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said U.S. regulators had previously taken a “whack-a-mole” approach to monopolistic behavior by Big Tech companies. 

“No one ever really wins that game — the moles just keep coming,” Kanter said. “To stop them from popping up, you really need to unplug the machine. In the same way, enforcers need to unplug the monopolization machine in digital platform industries.” 

During his speech at the Fordham University Conference on International Law and Policy in Manhattan, Kanter called for US antitrust regulators to take a far more aggressive approach to enforcing current laws. 

“The digital economy has enabled monopoly power of a nature and degree not seen before in our country,” Kanter said in front of an audience at the Fordham law school that included many lawyers who defend tech firms against regulators like him.

FTC Chair Lina Khan, who also spoke at the conference Friday, called antitrust legislation in Congress “an extremely healthy development” despite it remaining stalled.
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The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and passed by the Senate Judiciary in January, would ban Big Tech companies from favoring their products over competitors in search results. For example, Amazon would not be allowed to favor its Amazon Basics products over competitors. 

Kanter, who did not call out companies by name but spoke about Big Tech more generally, also reiterated the Justice Department’s support of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which remains stalled in Congress. 

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he supports the bill but has not brought it up for a vote, even though Klobuchar and Grassley have insisted for months they have the votes to pass it. Big Tech foes have accused Schumer of holding up the bill, while Schumer insists he’s waiting until it has enough votes. 

Prior to joining the Justice Department in July 2021, Kanter represented Google rivals and critics including Microsoft, Yelp and New York Post parent company News Corp. 

Ahead of Kanter’s speech, he greeted the European Union’s Competition Commissioner Margethe Vestager with a kiss on the cheek. 

Vestager spoke at the conference days after notching a major win against Google when a European court largely slapped down the search giant’s appeal of a record-breaking $4 billion fine for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system. 

Two other top Biden administration antitrust officials also spoke on Friday.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan called antitrust legislation in Congress “an extremely healthy development,” while White House economic advisor Tim Wu called for lawmakers to better fund the FTC and Justice Department. 

“The agencies are engaged in extremely complicated, resource-intensive, expert-intensive litigation that is draining their pockets,” Wu said.

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Stranger Things Season 4 Spoilers Leaked Due to Tie-in Monopoly Game: Report

Stranger Things season 4 is in the limelight for an unexpected reason as leaked images of cards from a tie-in Monopoly board game have spoiled key plot elements ahead of its May 27 debut on Netflix, as per a report. The Monopoly Stranger Things game can be “purchased fair and square” at a “national retailer”, according to a Reddit thread dedicated to the leak. While this is not confirmed, the fact remains that several retailers are advertising merchandise based on previous Stranger Things seasons to capitalise on the brand’s popularity.

According to The Hollywood Reporter report — which quotes a source close to the series — the Monopoly Stranger Things 4 board game was accidentally given the go-ahead mainly because of the “sheer scale and breadth of the Stranger Things franchising world.”

Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers and Netflix are, not surprisingly, unhappy about the leak. In fact, the Duffer brothers are said to have had a “total meltdown” after the debacle, as they wanted to keep Stranger Things 4 plot details under wraps till the show’s premiere. They were, reportedly, also not consulted while developing the game.

Interestingly, Stranger Things season 4 is not the first title to be spoiled by tie-in merchandise. The Star Wars franchise faced a similar situation when the release of a Rey action figure with a lightsaber revealed a key plot detail from the 2015 space epic Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Such events are the reason that The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau didn’t allow manufacturers to design a toy for the character of Baby Yoda — or Grogu, as you prefer — till after the series’ premiere.

Netflix could have adopted a similar approach for Stranger Things — and it might still do so for the fifth and final season — but admittedly, it does hurt sales and allows third-parties to profit, as was the case with The Mandalorian for several months.

Stranger Things season 4 is touted to be “bigger and better” than previous instalments. In fact, director Shawn Levy recently revealed that it features some episodes that are longer than his two Ryan Reynolds movies, the comedy Free Guy and the sci-fi adventure The Adam Project. The Duffer Brothers had hinted at as much earlier, noting the Stranger Things 4 episodes are “very, very long.”

The first five episodes of Stranger Things season 4 will be out May 27 on Netflix, three years after the last season aired, with the remaining four arriving on July 1.

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